Foreclosure Crisis Worsens; Home Repossessions Up In Metro Detroit

(Los Angeles-WWJ) The latest survey from RealtyTrac Inc shows the metropolitan Detroit area has dropped out of the top 20 nationally when it comes to foreclosures, but home repossessions are up dramatically.

The California-based tracking agency says that one out of every nine households in Las Vegas got a foreclosure notice in 2010. Foreclosure rates rose in Nevada, California, Florida and Arizona, and a growing number of homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments in previously insulated areas like Seattle, Houston and Chicago.

Lenders took back one million properties last year. The Phoenix-Scottsdale-Mesa area of Arizona led the nation, with metro Chicago second and Detroit-Warren-Livonia third, with repossessions up 19 percent in 2010.

RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga says there has been a "sea change" in what causes foreclosures, with unemployment and economic displacement replacing bad loans as the reasons why many Americans are losing their homes.

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