New data released by RealtyTrac Inc. shows that more and more households in most major cities around the nation received more foreclosure warnings in the first six months of this year than the first six months of 2009.
These numbers are confirming that the nation's foreclosure crisis is getting worse as homeowners continue to fight high unemployment, slow job growth and falling home prices as homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments.
Overall, almost 150 out of 200 metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents showed an annual increase in foreclosure activity between January and June of this year.
Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac said, "The face of foreclosure is driven much more now by unemployment than in the past, and it's moving out from the places where we've been focusing on in the last few years. The combination of a weak job market and a weak housing market is making it difficult in some of these areas."
RealtyTrac said in a report issued earlier this month that the number of homes facing foreclosure in the first half of 2010 rose 8 percent compared to the same period last year, but dropped 5 percent from the last six months of 2009.
Between January and June close to 1.7 million homeowners received a foreclosure-related warning which means one in 78 homes.
It's estimated that before 2010 is over more than 1 million American homeowners will most likely lose their homes to foreclosure this year. Furthermore, the top 10 metropolitan areas that have had the highest foreclosure rates have remained mostly unchanged over the past 12 months.
The California cities included in the top 10 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rate in the first half of 2010 include Modesto, Merced, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Stockton, and Vallejo-Fairfield.
With this increase of foreclosures will follow another large increase in short sales and REO properties.