Foreclosure rates show slower growth

WASHINGTON -- The foreclosure crisis isn't over, but the pace of growth may be slowing.

RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listings company, said Wednesday that the number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in February grew 6 percent from a year earlier, the smallest annual increase in four years.

More than 308,000 households, or one in every 418 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, RealtyTrac reported. That was down more than 2 percent from January.

Among states, Nevada posted the nation's highest foreclosure rate, though foreclosures there were down 7 percent from January and more than 30 percent from a year earlier. It was followed by Arizona, Florida, California and Michigan. Rounding out the top 10 were Utah, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia and Maryland.

The metropolitan area with the highest foreclosure rate in February was Las Vegas. Though one in every 90 homes there received a foreclosure filing, foreclosures were down 9 percent from a month earlier. Foreclosures in the No. 2. metropolitan area, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida, were up 31 percent from a month earlier.

Fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan modification programs. Many analysts say most of those borrowers will eventually lose their homes, sparking a new round of foreclosures this year.

"It's premature to declare victory just yet," RealtyTrac Senior Vice President Rick Sharga said.

However, he added, "If this is the beginning of a slowdown in growth rates, that would be a good thing."

Banks repossessed nearly 79,000 homes last month, down 10 percent from January but still up 6 percent from February 2009.

The RealtyTrac report follows a report last month from the Mortgage Bankers Association that said the percentage of borrowers who had missed just one payment on their home loans fell to 3.6 percent in the October to December quarter, down from 3.8 percent in the third quarter.

Nevertheless, foreclosures remained at record high levels. The number of borrowers who have either missed a payment or are in foreclosure was at 15 percent.

A record 2.8 million households were threatened with foreclosure last year, RealtyTrac said, and the number is expected to rise to more than 3 million homes this year.

The foreclosure crisis forced the federal government and several states to devise plans to prolong the process so delinquent borrowers can try to find help. But those efforts have barely dented the problem. Case in point: The Obama administration's $75 billion foreclosure prevention program has helped only 116,300 homeowners in the past year.