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Week In Pictures
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Foreclosure filings increased in 43 states in April, but Kentucky saw a 26.4 percent decrease when compared with April 2007.
The state also had a 26.2 percent decline in filings from March 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that monitors foreclosures.
RealtyTrac said Wednesday that new foreclosures rose 64.75 percent nationwide in April, compared with April 2007, and 4.4 percent from March 2008.
One in every 519 U.S. households -- 243,353 properties -- received a foreclosure filing during April 2008, RealtyTrac said.
"The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.
"Although only about 2 percent of households nationwide are in foreclosure," Saccacio said, "these properties contribute to already bloated inventories of homes for sale, and put downward pressure on home values."
A foreclosure occurs when a homebuyer falls behind in mortgage payments and the lender goes to court to have the property sold at auction to pay the mortgage.
The problem has been made worse nationally by so-called subprime loans made to buyers with credit problems and by adjustable-rate loans with initially low interest rates that eventually reset so high that the buyer can't afford the payments.
RealtyTrac said Kentucky ranked 43rd among the states, based on foreclosure filings in April, which were equal to one for every 3,702 households in the state.
Nationwide, Nevada had the highest number of foreclosures -- one for every 146 households -- followed by California, Arizona, Florida and Colorado.
Vermont was 50th, with no foreclosures in April.
Kentucky also had fewer foreclosure filings in April than most of its neighbors.
Arkansas was ranked 27th; Illinois, 13th; Indiana, 11th; Missouri, 20th; Ohio, 8th; Tennessee, 14th; and West Virginia, 48th.
