US home foreclosures remain at record levels in August

One in every 357 house in the US received a foreclosure filing in August, although the numbers decreased by less than 1 per cent from the previous month, it was still an increase of nearly 18 per cent from August 2008, according to a report released today.

Real estate data firm RealtyTrac, releasing its August 2009 US Foreclosure Market Report said that 3,58,471 US properties had foreclosure filings-default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions during August.

''The August report demonstrates that there is still an ample supply of properties filling the foreclosure pipeline even while the outflow of bank-owned REO properties onto the resale market is being more carefully regulated,'' said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

''After hitting a high for the year in July, REOs dropped 13 per cent in August, but we also saw a record high number of properties either entering default or being scheduled for a public foreclosure auction for the first time,'' he added.

The report said that six states accounted for more than 60 per cent of national total foreclosure activity in August with California being the highest as 92,326 properties received a foreclosure filing in August.

California was followed by Florida with 62,401 foreclosures, Michigan with 19,359, Nevada with 17,902, Arizona with 17,807 and Illinois with 13,078.