Friday, September 16, 2011

Utah 10th in the Nation - Mortgage default warnings surged in August | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Associated Press file photo Nationally, banks have stepped up their actions against homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, setting the stage for a fresh wave of foreclosures.
Mortgage default warnings surged in August
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Utah has the nation’s 10th-highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one in every 450 households receiving a foreclosure-related filing last month, a new report shows.

But the Beehive State, which has been in the top 10 for more than two years, has a foreclosure problem that pales in comparison to No. 1 Nevada, where 1 in every 118 households received a filing in July, according to foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.

Nevada was followed by California (1 in 226), Arizona (1 in 248), Georgia (1 in 346), Idaho (1 in 348), Michigan (1 in 349), Florida (1 in 376), Illinois (1 in 424) and Colorado, No. 9 with a rate of 1 in every 439 households receiving a filing.

Nationally the foreclosure rate is 1 in every 570 U.S. households, said ­RealtyTrac.

In all, about 228,098 U.S. homes received a foreclosure-related notice last month, a 7 percent increase from July, but a nearly 33 percent decline from August last year. In Utah, 2,119 households received a foreclosure-related filing, down 17 percent from July and more than 48 percent from August 2010.

But that trend isn’t expected to hold.

Nationally, banks have stepped up their actions against homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments, setting the stage for a fresh wave of foreclosures.