by Calculated Risk on 1/15/2009 09:14:00 AM

Press Release:

RealtyTrac ... today released its 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report(TM), which shows a total of 3,157,806 foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- were reported on 2,330,483 U.S. properties during the year, an 81 percent increase in total properties from 2007 and a 225 percent increase in total properties from 2006. The report also shows that 1.84 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 54) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.03 percent in 2007.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 303,410 U.S. properties in December, up 17 percent from the previous month and up nearly 41 percent from December 2007. Despite the spike in December, foreclosure activity for the fourth quarter was down nearly 4 percent from the previous quarter but still up nearly 40 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007.
...
"State legislation that slowed down the onset of new foreclosure activity clearly had an effect on fourth quarter numbers overall, but that effect appears to have worn off by December," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

There is no end in sight ... I expect foreclosure activity in 2009 to be higher than 2008.