Foreclosure Filings Nearly Double

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Co-President Michael J. Heid, speaks at a news conference with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, not pictured, at the Treasury Department in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, to announce the formation of "HOPE NOW", an alliance of credit and homeowners' counselors and mortgage borrowers and lenders to help homeowners who may not be able to pay their mortgages. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)

LOS ANGELES -- Foreclosure filings across the U.S. nearly doubled last month compared with September 2006, as financially strapped homeowners already behind on mortgage payments defaulted on their loans or came closer to losing their homes to foreclosure, a real estate information company said Thursday.

A total of 223,538 foreclosure filings were reported in September, up from 112,210 in the same month a year ago, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc.

The number of filings in September was down 8 percent from August's 243,947, the firm said.

Despite the sequential decline, the September figure represents the second-highest total for filings in a single month since the company began tracking monthly filings two years ago.

"August was an extraordinarily high month for foreclosure activity, so some falloff was almost predictable," said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president for marketing.

The filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages.

Typically, borrowers must be 60 to 90 days past due on their mortgage payments before their lender will consider them in default, the first stage of the foreclosure process. If a homeowner can't find a way to get current on payments, the home is then often put up for auction, and if it doesn't sell, it eventually goes back to the bank.

In all, 39 states saw a decline in foreclosure filings, the firm said.

Sharga noted that there was a spike in the number of bank repossessions in August that did not occur in September.

It's likely that the sequential decline in foreclosure activity between August and September was just a blip, not a bellwether of lessening foreclosure filings.

"We don't see September as the beginning of the end in this cycle of foreclosures," Sharga said.

The foreclosure rate for the nation in September was one foreclosure filing for every 557 households, the firm said.