Foreclosure rates jump nationwide

WASHINGTON – The number of homeowners stung by the rout in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with June a year ago, according to data released today.

Nationwide, 252,363 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in June, up 53 percent from the same month last year, but down 3 percent from May, RealtyTrac Inc. said. One in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but 11 states. Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan continued to have the highest foreclosure rates.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. More than 71,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in June, the company said.

While foreclosures continue to rise nationwide, efforts in some states to give borrowers more time before losing their homes appear to be working.

In Maryland, where a new law has increased the time to finalize a foreclosure to 150 days from just 15, foreclosure filings dropped by almost 18 percent from last year’s levels. In Massachusetts, which last year passed a similar law, filings dropped almost 3 percent.

Still, the combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with few options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t refinance into an affordable loan.

Economists project 2.5 million homes nationwide will enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007.