Foreclosures Hit Record High in 2010

A total of 3.83 million foreclosure filings were reported on a record high 2.87 million properties in 2010, up 2 percent from 2009 and an increase of 23 percent from 2008, according to a year-end study from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties. The report concludes that 2.33 percent of all housing units in the United States (one in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing last year, up from 2.21 percent in 2009, 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007 and .58 percent in 2006. Nevada, Arizona and Florida posted the highest foreclosure rates in 2010, while California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan combined to account for half of all foreclosure filings logged in the United States last year. On a positive note, foreclosure filings declined in the fourth quarter of 2010, falling 14 percent from the previous quarter and 8 percent from the final quarter of 2009. But the RealtyTrac report attributes some of the recent declines in foreclosure totals to the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation and procedures that have prompted many mortgage lenders to temporarily suspend some foreclosure proceedings.