Foreclosures soar, layoffs mount in US mortgage industry crisis

According to Realtytrac.com, a foreclosure research and marketing firm, there were a total of 179,599 foreclosure filings in July—including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. This was a 93 percent increase over the same figure one year ago. Foreclosure filings have been rising for over a year, although they fell seven percent in June.

Foreclosures are heavily concentrated in a number of states in which shifts in the housing market have been particularly devastating for working people. California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Georgia accounted for over half of the total number of foreclosures in July. California’s foreclosure activity is up 289 percent from July 2006, and six California cities were among the top ten urban centers with the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

Michigan residents continue to be devastated by the attack on jobs and wages in the auto industry. According to Realtytrac.com, “Detroit posted a 70 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosure activity in July, pushing the city’s foreclosure rate to one foreclosure filing for every 97 households—more than seven times the national average and the highest among 200 metro areas tracked.” Michigan as a whole had the third highest foreclosure rate in the country—one out of 320 homes.