Foreclosures up significantly in July

The battering of the housing sector continued last month as the number of homes receiving foreclosure notices surged to 272,171, up 8% from June and up 55% from July 2007, according to a RealtyTrac Inc. report released today. The report tracked foreclosure filings, which include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Bank repossessions, or REOs, saw the biggest increase in activity, rising 184% year over year. This was followed by default notices, which rose 53%, and auction notices, which increased 11%. “The sharp rise in REOs, combined with slow sales, has resulted in a bloated inventory of bank-owned properties for sale,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. He said that Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac has more than 750,000 bank-repossessed homes in its database, representing about 17% of all of the homes that were up for sale in June. Nevada, California and Florida posted the biggest foreclosure rates. Cape Coral-Fort Myers in Florida was the metro area with the highest foreclosure rate last month, with one in every 64 homes receiving a foreclosure notice.