The number of home foreclosures locally and nationwide doubled during the second quarter, compared with the same period in 2007, according to data released Friday by RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based company that tracks various kinds of mortgage and default notices.
From April through June, 739,714 homeowners nationwide received at least one foreclosure-related notice -- that's one in every 171 households.
During the second quarter, Minnesota had the 27th-highest number of foreclosures, with one in every 403 households receiving a default notice, an auction sale notice or a bank repossession. That's a 34 percent increase from the first quarter and a 120 percent increase from the same period last year.
Filings rose in all but two states: North Dakota and Alaska.
The rates of foreclosures were highest in Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida. One in every 43 Nevada households received a filing.
Cities in California and Florida accounted for 16 of the worst 20 metro-area foreclosure rates. Stockton, Calif., had the worst rate, with one in every 25 homes receiving a foreclosure filing. That's nearly seven times the national average.
The Twin Cities metro area ranked 59th on the list of 100 metropolitan areas, with one in every 256 households receiving such a notice. That's a 29 percent increase from the first quarter and a 106 percent increase from second-quarter 2007.
RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. The group said that banks took back more than 222,000 properties nationwide in the second quarter of this year, and that bank repossessions represented 30 percent of all foreclosure activity. That's a 24 percent increase from the previous three-month period.
The Friday report estimates that 2.5 million homes nationwide will enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007.
Star Tribune staff writer Jim Buchta contributed to this report, which also contains material from the Associated Press.
