Top Ten Foreclosure States of 2010, RealtyTrac

One in 45 housing units in the U.S. received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010. Nevada, Arizona and Florida top the list of states with the highest foreclosure rates last year.

And although that number may sound high, the percentage is only up 2.21 percent from last year. RealtyTrac released its year end 2010 Market Report and shows a total of 3,825,637 foreclosure filings-default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

In total, 2.9 million foreclosures were filed last year and even that sounds like a a lot, the increase is up nearly two percent from last year. RealtyTrac reported that 2,871,891 U.S. properties reported foreclosure filings.

An executive officer at RealtyTrac, James J. Saccacio said that if had not been for the foreclosure fraud investigations that halted foreclosure filings in the last quarter, it is very likely that 2010's foreclosure filings would have exceeded 3 million.

In December, foreclosure filings decreased 2 percent from November and a decreased 26 percent from December 2009. RealtyTrac says the decrease is the hugest drop ever since they began publishing the foreclosure report in 2005. The lowest natural decrease occured in June of 2008.

Nevada, Arizona, and Florida topped state foreclosure rates with more than 9 percent of Nevada's housing units, or 1 in 11 properties filing at least one foreclosure last year. Four years in a row, Nevada has had the highest foreclosure filings over any other state in the country.

Nevada's foreclosure activity increased 18 percent from November '10 to December '10 and increased 14 percent from December of 2009.

Arizona had the second highest rate of foreclosures for the second successive year. 5.73 percent of its housing units, or 1 in 17, filed in 2010. Florida had the third highest foreclosure rate at 5.51 percent.

California, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois, and Colorado were also among the nation's top ten foreclosure states in 2010.

Top Ten Foreclosure States 2010

1. Nevada: 9 percent foreclosure rate
2. Arizona: 5.73 percent foreclosure rate
3. Florida: 5.51 percent
4. California: 4.08 percent
5. Utah: 3.44 percent
6. Georgia: 3.25 percent
7. Michigan: 3.00 percent
8. Idaho: 2.98 percent
9. Illinois: 2.87 percent
10. Colorado: 2.51 percent

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