The holidays saw no reprieve for borrowers facing foreclosures, with filings increasing in December from the prior month. Quarterly figures, however, were up only slightly while annual filings soared.
During December, there were 215,749 foreclosure filings nationally, according to data released by RealtyTrac today. Filings climbed from 201,950 the prior month and 109,652 in December 2006.
Foreclosure filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, according to the tracking service.
At 53,292 total filings, California saw more foreclosures last month than any other state, the data indicated. Florida followed with 31,219 filings, then Texas with 12,253 filings. Next was Ohio, with 12,066 foreclosures, then Michigan, at 11,644, and Nevada, with 10,979.
Vermont saw the fewest December filings, with just three, RealtyTrac reported.
The fourth quarter saw 642,150 filings on 527,740 properties, 1 percent higher than the prior quarter and 86 percent worse than a year earlier, the report said. California ranked as the worst state, with 143,685 foreclosures during the period, followed by Florida, at 90,647, then Ohio, with 45,650.
For all of 2007, 2.2 million foreclosures filings were made on 1.3 million properties, climbing 75 percent from 2006, the report said.
California also saw the most annual filings, at 481,392 on 249,513 properties, trailed by Florida, with 279,325 on 165,291 properties , Ohio, at 153,196 on 89,979 properties, and Texas, with 149,703 on 84,469 properties, according to RealtyTrac.
Looking at annual foreclosure rates, the report indicated Nevada was worst with 3.4 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year. Florida has the second highest rate, with 2 percent of households having faced a filing, then Michigan, with 1.9 percent of households seeing a foreclosure.
Just over 1 percent of all U.S. households were at some stage of foreclosure last year, climbing from 0.58 percent in 2006, RealtyTrac said.
