Defaults Up

NATIONAL FORECLOSURES REMAIN ELEVATED IN SEPTEMBER

Foreclosures Up More Than 63 % From September 2005, 39 Percent Year to Date

IRVINE, Calif. – Oct. 11, 2006 – RealtyTrac™ (http://www.realtytrac.com/), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its September 2006 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows 112,210 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure during the month, a decrease of less than 1 percent from August, and a 63 percent increase from September 2005.  The report also shows a national foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 1,030 U.S. households, the third highest monthly foreclosure rate reported this year.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, with nearly 650,000 properties from more than 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate, The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal and Knight Ridder Online.

“September was the second straight month in which more than 110,000 new foreclosure filings were reported nationwide, evidence that the spike in August was not just a one-month anomaly,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Foreclosure filings are up 39 percent year to date and have already surpassed the total number reported in all of 2005. If they continue at the current pace, foreclosures will exceed the 1.2 million mark by the end of the year.”    

Michigan joins Colorado, Nevada in posting top state foreclosure rates
Michigan reported 7,846 properties entering some stage of foreclosure in September — a 14 percent increase from the previous month and nearly three times the number reported in September 2005 — boosting the state’s foreclosure rate to third highest among all the states. With one new foreclosure filing for every 538 households, Michigan’s foreclosure rate replaced Florida’s foreclosure rate among the nation’s top three.

Despite slowing foreclosure activity in September, Colorado and Nevada continued to document the first and second highest state foreclosure rates respectively. Colorado reported 4,485 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a decrease of 26 percent from the previous month and a foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 408 households — 2.5 times the national average. Nevada reported 1,919 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a decrease of nearly 5 percent from the previous month and a foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 452 households — 2.3 times the national average.

Other states reporting foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 highest were Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Ohio and Utah.

California claims top spot among states with most new foreclosure filings
Thanks to a 19 percent increase in foreclosure activity, California leapfrogged past Texas and Florida to report the most new foreclosure filings of any state in September. The state documented 14,806 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, nearly three times the number reported in September 2005 and a foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 825 households — 1.3 times the national average. The state’s foreclosure activity has risen more than 40 percent over the last two months.

With 12,946 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, Florida reported the second highest number of new foreclosure filings in September. That was a 21 percent drop from the previous month, but still up 41 percent from September 2005. The state’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 564 households was fourth highest among the states.

Texas reported 11,988 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 16 percent decrease from the previous month but a 23 percent increase from September 2005. The state’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 671 households dropped out of the nation’s top five but was still 1.5 times the national average.

Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, Colorado, Indiana and New York rounded out the 10 states with the most new foreclosure filings in September.

Highest metro foreclosure rates in Colorado, Michigan and Florida
For the second month in a row, Greeley, Colo., posted the highest foreclosure rate among the nation’s 252 largest metropolitan areas. The Greeley metro area (Weld County) documented 393 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 168 households — more than six times the national average.

With 4,190 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, the Detroit metropolitan area (Wayne County) registered the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate — one new foreclosure filing for every 197 households.

Miami’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 271 households ranked as the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate. The metro area (Miami-Dade County) reported 3,147 properties entering some stage of foreclosure in September.

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of homes entering some stage of foreclosure nationwide and by state over the preceding month. Data is also available at the individual county level. RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: Defaults — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auctions — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank).

U.S. Foreclosure Market Statistics by State – Sept 2006

Sept 2006

Rate Rank	State Name	NODs	NTSs	NFSs	LISs	REOs	Total	1 for every #HH	%Change from Jul 2006	%Change from Aug 2005
--	United States	25,379	43,840	6,285	19,338	18,179	112,210	1,030	-0.96	63.50
32	Alabama	0	297	0	0	232	529	3,712	39.58	195.53
22	Alaska	9	98	0	0	12	118	1,739	31.11	40.48
11	Arizona	0	0	2,493	306	103	2,902	754	12.79	39.65
18	Arkansas	24	997	0	0	100	1,121	1,046	29.00	18.50
12	California	12,317	2,023	0	0	485	14,806	825	18.58	196.48
1	Colorado	75	3,228	0	0	1,182	4,485	408	-26.22	24.51
15	CT	1,226	157	0	0	2	1,385	1,000	556.40	4846.43
43	Deleware	4	28	0	0	4	36	9,530	2.86	260.00
48	D.C.	0	0	0	0	11	11	24,986	22.22	-8.33
4	Florida	0	0	1,609	11,050	390	12,946	564	-21.22	40.98
5	Georgia	5	4,136	0	0	1,026	5,167	599	-13.41	31.71
42	Hawaii	18	43	0	0	2	63	7,310	50.00	-35.71
29	Idaho	10	185	0	0	7	202	2,603	-16.18	18.13
7	Illionis	0	0	979	5,881	1,069	7,431	658	7.56	86.85
6	Indiana	1,578	1,764	0	0	704	3,968	636	12.00	61.43
40	Iowa	23	41	0	0	141	176	7,003	-22.12	27.54
30	Kansas	105	211	0	0	5	321	3,514	-16.41	221.00
24	Kentucky	300	400	0	0	192	892	1,963	1.36	430.95
39	Lousiana	30	166	0	0	151	347	5,427	9.46	73.50
49	Maine	4	13	0	0	2	19	34,310	-59.57	171.43
33	Maryland	5	545	0	0	22	572	3,745	48.57	13.94
14	Mass	1,619	1,112	0	0	8	2,739	957	373.06	14315.79
3	Michigan	163	4,569	0	0	3,117	7,846	538	14.36	199.24
34	Minn	18	393	0	0	122	533	3,880	-15.53	252.98
45	Miss	4	46	0	0	29	79	16,061	-1.25	-15.05
23	Missouri	25	522	0	0	877	1,385	1,760	4.61	47.18
35	Montana	2	96	0	0	6	104	3,962	79.31	-7.96
19	Nebraska	5	373	0	0	139	516	1,393	66.45	47.43
2	Nevada	1,482	351	0	0	86	1,919	452	-4.81	237.26
50	NH	0	11	0	0	6	14	39,073	-17.65	600.00
16	New Jersey	2,473	589	0	0	159	3,221	1,028	7.65	30.88
31	New Mexico	129	60	0	0	25	214	3,648	-37.24	-28.67
26	NY	0	0	1,204	2,101	319	3,622	2,120	-20.17	45.29
25	NC	549	99	0	0	1,017	1,665	2,114	-19.21	83.17
47	N Dakota	3	1	0	0	10	14	20,691	40.00	100.00
9	Ohio	95	3,390	0	0	3,309	6,794	704	-9.03	17.16
17	Oklahoma	465	487	0	0	479	1,430	1,045	3.77	45.47
28	Oregon	148	456	0	0	31	635	2,293	20.72	11.40
21	Penn	1,120	1,767	0	0	245	3,125	1,680	9.92	31.36
27	Rhod Island	0	204	0	0	0	204	2,156	45.71	20300.00
38	South Carolina	19	92	0	0	264	368	4,763	-17.30	8.55
44	South Dakota	1	20	0	0	0	21	15,391	-44.74	23.53
13	Tennessee	273	1,575	0	0	914	2,757	889	16.23	28.05
8	Texas	274	10,856	0	0	873	11,988	671	-16.00	23.13
10	Utah	444	588	0	0	45	1,077	714	2.87	17.07
51	Vermont	1	1	0	0	0	2	147,191	0.00	0.00
41	Virginia	2	314	0	0	84	400	7,216	-5.88	76.99
20	Washington	27	1,326	0	0	88	1,441	1,660	-10.66	46.29
46	West Virginia	2	46	0	0	3	51	16,561	-3.77	-50.00
37	Wisconsin	303	138	0	0	57	498	4,624	-31.12	-2.35
36	Wyoming	0	26	0	0	25	51	4,389	54.55	131.82

About RealtyTrac Inc.
Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc., is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new construction properties, with more than 1 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.