Missouri foreclosures escalate in August

Missouri ranked No. 18 in the country for its August foreclosure rate: one foreclosure filing for every 842 households. The Show-Me state had 3,079 filings for the month, up 51 percent from July.

The national foreclosure rate in August was one filing for every 510 households – the highest rate Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac has reported since it began issuing monthly figures in January 2005. The United States documented 243,947 filings for the month – also a record for RealtyTrac – up 36 percent from July and up 115 percent from August 2006.

“The jump in foreclosure filings this month might be the beginning of the next wave of increased foreclosure activity, as a large number of subprime adjustable rate loans are beginning to reset now,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a news release. “Another significant factor … is that the number of (bank repossessions) is increasing dramatically, which means that a greater percentage of homes entering foreclosure are going back to the banks.”

RealtyTrac is an online marketplace for foreclosure properties and provides foreclosure data for MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.