Report: August bad month for foreclosures

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 12 (UPI) -- More than 250,000 home loans were in default and 91,000 U.S. families lost their homes in August, an online marketer of foreclosed properties said.

The RealtyTrac reported 304,000 homes were in some phase of default and foreclosure filings of all types grew 12 percent in August over July and 27 percent over August 2007, CNN reported Friday.

The 27-percent, year-over-year hike was more modest than other similar comparisons in previous months because the housing crisis was already under way in August 2007, the Irvine, Calif., business reported.

"In August 2008 the total number of U.S. properties that received foreclosure filings, as well as the national foreclosure rate, were both the highest we've seen in any month since we began issuing our report in January 2005," RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio said in a statement.

Doug Robinson, a spokesman for the foreclosure prevention organization NeighborhoodWorks America, maintains to CNN that "the foreclosure trend hasn't peaked, adding, "it's everybody's problem."

The August figures could have been worse but for several states passing legislation designed to make lenders wait before filing notices of default, CNN said.