Foreclosure warnings are on the rise in most metro areas

Updated: July 28, 2010 - 11:03 PM

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LOS ANGELES - Households across a majority of large U.S. cities received more foreclosure warnings in the first six months of this year than in the first half of 2009, new data show.

The trend is the latest sign that the nation's foreclosure crisis is worsening as homeowners battling high unemployment, slow job growth and an uneven rebound in home prices continue to fall behind on their mortgage payments.

In all, 154 out of 206 metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 residents posted an annual increase in foreclosure activity between January and June, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions -- warnings that can lead to a home's loss to foreclosure.

The latest figures show the threat of foreclosures is spreading beyond the top tier of metropolitan areas in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, which bore the brunt of fallout from the housing crisis.

Those states saw housing values surge in the housing boom years. When the boom ended, values collapsed and foreclosures soared.

"The face of foreclosure is driven much more now by unemployment than in the past, and it's moving out from the places ... we've been focusing on in the last few years," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac.

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach metropolitan area in Florida received more foreclosure-related warnings in the first half of this year than any other, the firm said.

Florida accounted for nine of the top 20 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates.

ASSOCIATED PRESS