U.S. foreclosures rose 8% in January compared to December and nearly 57% from January 2007, RealtyTrac said on Tuesday. Nevada, California, Florida posted the top state foreclosure rates, it added. "January's foreclosure numbers demonstrate that foreclosure activity is continuing on its upward trend, substantially increasing from a year ago in many states," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "However, the 8% monthly increase in January is not as precipitous as the 19% spike we saw in January of 2007, and several key states actually experienced decreasing foreclosure activity from the previous month. It could be that some of the efforts on the part of lenders and the government -- both at the state and federal level -- are beginning to take effect," he said
Wow -- that's a really big increase. While the news of the decreases is good, the year over year gains are pretty scary.
