Foreclosure filings continue to rise

Del. notices in Feb. up 42% over last year, state figures show
By LESLIE A. PAPPAS, The News Journal

Posted Friday, March 14, 2008
Foreclosure filings continued their upward tick in February, according to data from county court filings and the most recent report from a California research firm.

There were 337 initial foreclosure filings with Delaware's county courts in February, up 42 percent from February of last year, according to data compiled by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner. The bank commissioner compiles the first notices banks file with the courts when a homeowner has fallen 3 months or more behind in payments.

Compared with last year, initial filings in New Castle County were up 51 percent at 222 filings; Kent County was up 22 percent with 55 filings, and Sussex County was up 33 percent with 60 filings.

Gerry Kelly, deputy bank commissioner for consumer affairs, said an increase in mortgage limits on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans might make it possible for more struggling homeowners to refinance.

As of March 5, FHA limits for one-family homes in Dover had been increased to $376,250; Wilmington, $420,000; and Seaford, $357,000; Kelly said.

Meanwhile, a report from Irvine, Calif.-based research firm RealtyTrac showed there were 228 Delaware filings in February, or one in every 1,644 households, up 32 percent from the previous month. RealtyTrac tracks foreclosure filings toward the end of the nine-month foreclosure process, when the home is listed for sheriff sale or actually repossessed by the bank.

Due to incomplete numbers last year, RealtyTrac's year-over-year comparison was skewed for Delaware, showing a 240 percent increase over February of 2007.

Nationwide, nearly 60 percent more U.S. homes faced foreclosure in February than in the same month last year, with Nevada, California and Florida showing the highest foreclosure rates, a research firm said Wednesday.

A total of 223,651 homes across the nation received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, up 59.8 percent from 139,922 a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

Nearly half of the homes on the most recent list had slipped into default for the first time.

Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 165 households receiving at least one foreclosure-related notice, RealtyTrac said.

Most of the troubled properties were in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Ohio

The overall U.S. foreclosure rate last month was one filing for every 557 homes.

February's total represents a 4 percent dip from January, but the decline was just a seasonal blip, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing.

"We seem to be settling in at a new plateau in terms of monthly activity, but it's a much higher plateau than we were at a year ago," he said.

February marked the 26th consecutive month with a national year-over-year increase in foreclosure-related filings.