Reno Foreclosure Blog

Foreclosures spiked in December after four months of sequential declines, capping a record year for foreclosures, according to market researcher RealtyTrac.

"As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably would have been worse if not for legislative and industry-related delays in processing delinquent loans," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac.

But those short-term factors--trial loan modifications, state legislation extending the foreclosure process and a clog in the foreclosure pipeline--couldn't keep the foreclosure filings from hitting 349,519 in December, up 14% from November and 15% from a year earlier, when a similar spike occurred.

The lifelines also are likely to be disappoint homeowners looking to permanently put off the inevitable.

"In the long term, a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog," Saccacio said.

The year total was 2.8 million foreclosure filings, up 21% from 2008 and more than double the 2007 total, with Nevada, Arizona and Florida winning the dubious distinction of having the top foreclosure rates.

Nevada, which had the highest rate for the third consecutive year, posted a 27% increase from a month earlier but still came in 22% below year-earlier levels. More than 10% of the state's housing units received at least one foreclosure notice during 2009. The rate topped 6% for Arizona and reached 5.9% for Florida.

In absolute terms, California, Florida, Arizona and Illinois had the most foreclosure filings, accounting for more than half of the U.S. total for the year.

-By Jay Miller, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2355; jay.miller@dowjones.com