A Look at the Top U.S. Foreclosure Markets

The once red-hot Florida housing market leads the nation in delinquencies, according to the latest report on foreclosure filings from RealtyTrac.

There were more than 19,144 properties in some stage of foreclosure in February in the Sunshine State, up 63.5 percent from January and nearly double the number a year earlier.

Nationally, studies show that mortgage foreclosure filings fell in the month of February, down 4 percent from January. They were, however, up 12 percent from February 2006, and were running at a rate that would project into a 33 percent increase for the year.

Many housing markets that until a year or so ago were recording big gains in home prices are now racking up high delinquency levels. With billions’ worth of subprime home loans scheduled to reset this year, the situation could get worse, many fear.

The RealyTrac report covers varying stages of foreclosures, such as notices of default; notices of trustee sale; notices of foreclosure sale; and real estate owned, that is, properties already foreclosed on and repurchased by the mortgage lender.

A look at the top ten foreclosure markets:

In addition to Florida, other markets showing weakness include California, where filings shot up nearly 79 percent compared with a year ago, and Nevada, which for the second straight month had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate relative to the number of households.

The 3,124 Nevada mortgage foreclosure filings during February, a rise of 77 percent from a year ago, gave the Silver State a rate of one filing for every 278 households - more than three times the national average.

Out-of-state speculators had invested heavily in the Las Vegas housing market during the boom years through 2005 and many may have now abandoned their holdings, allowing a large number of them to slip into foreclosure.

Arizona mortgage markets, such as Phoenix, may be experiencing a similar trend. Filings there totaled one for every 703 households and have risen 44.1 percent since last February.

Colorado, at one filing for every 345 households, had the second highest rate in the U.S.. Other states with high home mortgage foreclosure rates were Georgia (one for every 424 homes), Michigan (one per 455), Ohio (one per 640), Tennessee (one per 639) and Texas (one per 650).

For the Midwestern states, however, the news was actually an improvement on the recent numbers; foreclosures were down from January and year ago levels for both Michigan (down 19.6 percent compared with January and 10.2 percent from last February) and Ohio (12.1 percent and 24.3 percent).

Low default markets were led by Vermont, which had a total of one foreclosure blemish - a notice of default. Other low foreclosure states included Maine (1 per 72,432 homes), West Virginia (1 per 27,246) and North Dakota (1 per 16,093).

ARTICLE & GRAPHIC SOURCE: CNN Money