Across the nation, foreclosures rose 58% in the first half of 2007

Recent real estate trends show latest sign of growing problems in the mortgage industry

The first six months of the year the number of U.S. homes facing foreclosure surged 58 %. A data firm said Monday that this is just one of the latest signs of an increasing problem in the mortgage industry. Across the nation there were 573,397 properties that reported some sort of foreclosure activity in the first half of this year. This data includes receiving notices of default, auction sale notices or being repossessed by lenders. In the first six months of 2006 there were 363,672 properties that reported foreclosure which was 58 percent less and 32 percent less higher than the 433,504 the last six months of 2006.

The CEO of RealtyTrac stated that by the end of the year we could easily surpass 2 million foreclosure filings which would represent a year-over-year increase of over 65 percent.

Among the states with the highest number of homes receiving foreclosure-related notices was California, Florida, Texas and Ohio. California led the nation in foreclosure filings and the number of homes receiving notices the RealtyTrac report said.

There was an 80% increase in the number of properties in the state that received notices of default or other foreclosure notices totaling 104,572. This was more than double from a year-ago and from the previous six months, the firm said. 925,986 foreclosure filings were sent to homeowners during the first half of the year RealtyTrac reported. In part because owners had more than one mortgage and some of those filings targeted the same property. That figure was up 39 percent from the last six months of 2006 and up 56 percent from a year-ago, the firm said.

The first step in the foreclosure process is the notices of default which have accounted for the largest slice of filings during the most recent period, a total of 416,937.Through the end of June the national foreclosure rate was one filing for every 134 U.S. households, the company said.

The mortgage industry has been rocked by defaults and foreclosures these past months due to borrowers with subprime loans and adjustable rate mortgages. Even some of the most creditworthy borrowers were having trouble making their mortgage payments. One of the biggest mortgage lenders in the U.S, Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp, was one of them.

With a total of 64,250, Florida was the No. 2 state for homes in some stage of foreclosure; an increase of 77 percent year-over-year and up 41 percent from the last six months of 2006.With 44,594 homes, Ohio ranked third followed by Texas with 41,592 and Michigan’s 40,175, the firm said. The highest foreclosure rates given the total number of households were Nevada, Colorado and California.