by Calculated Risk on 4/15/2008 09:36:00 AM

From Bloomberg: U.S. Foreclosures Jump 57% as Homeowners Walk Away

U.S. foreclosure filings jumped 57 percent and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as adjustable mortgages increased and more owners gave up their homes to lenders.

More than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, said today in a statement. Nevada, California and Florida had the highest foreclosure rates. Filings rose 5 percent from February.
...
``We're not near the bottom of this at all,'' said Kenneth Rosen, chairman of Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC, a hedge fund in Berkeley, California and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the University of California at Berkeley. ``The foreclosure process will accelerate throughout the year.''

It is very likely that the foreclosure activity will continue to increase throughout 2008, negatively impacting inventory and house prices.

Note that the "walk away" headline isn't supported by any evidence in the article.