Remember Bush and the Ownership Society?

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Surge

Monday July 30, 5:06 pm ET
By Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer

U.S. Foreclosures Rise 58 Percent in First Half of 2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The number of U.S. homes facing foreclosure surged 58 percent in the first six months of the year, the latest sign of mounting problems in the mortgage industry, a data firm said Monday.

In all, 573,397 properties across the nation reported some sort of foreclosure activity in the first half of this year, including receiving notices of default, auction sale notices or being repossessed by lenders, Irvine-based RealtyTrac Inc. said.

That was 58 percent higher than the 363,672 properties in the first six months of 2006 and 32 percent higher than the 433,504 in the last six months of 2006.

"We could easily surpass 2 million foreclosure filings by the end of the year, which would represent a year-over-year increase of over 65 percent," said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.

Follow up with the rest here ...

By the way, the economy is doing great! How much of that wonderful consumer spending cash was based on debt? The market is turning and people now own more on their homes than their homes are worth. It was all an illusion but the "feel good" news on the right said the economy was doing great ... in spite of the math of reality.