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Home Seizures by Banks Jump 90% in Year

Lenders reclaim 45K properties as mortgage payments rise

By Jim O'Neill,  Newser User

Posted Feb 26, 2008 2:00 PM CST

(Newser) – Banks seized more than 45,000 homes in January, nearly double the number from a year ago and up 8% from December, Bloomberg reports. Rising adjustable-rate mortgage payments were the culprit. Total foreclosure filings, which include default and auction notices in addition to seizures, increased 57% to 233,001, the sixth consecutive month with more than 200,000 filings.

California led the nation in January foreclosures filed; 57,158 properties were in danger of being seized, up 120% over a year ago and 7% higher than in December. Next in line were Florida, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Colorado. RealtyTrac said 642,150 foreclosures were filed in the quarter, and CitiGroup said $460 billion of ARMs would reset in 2008.

The front of a boarded up building in the Mount Pleasant section of Cleveland, Ohio, 25 January 2008. The area is filled with homes for sale or on the auction block. The city of Cleveland is the epicenter of the nation's home foreclosure crisis and is creating bad news for...
The front of a boarded up building in the Mount Pleasant section of Cleveland, Ohio, 25 January 2008. The area is filled with homes for sale or on the auction block. The city of Cleveland is the epicenter...   (Getty Images)
A home in foreclosure is seen in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008.  The median home price in a six-county region of Southern California plunged more than 13 percent in December from the same month a year ago, as the national housing slump kept eating away at home values, a...
A home in foreclosure is seen in Pasadena, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. The median home price in a six-county region of Southern California plunged more than 13 percent in December from the same month...   (Associated Press)
A home is advertised for sale at a foreclosure auction in Pasadena, Calif.
A home is advertised for sale at a foreclosure auction in Pasadena, Calif.   (Associated Press)
Bank repossessions rose 90% in January as the nation's housing crisis continued.
Bank repossessions rose 90% in January as the nation's housing crisis continued.   (Getty Images)
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