Activity Up 25 percent from 2008  despite estimated shadow inventory of 1 million+
A total of 3,957,643 foreclosure filings — default  notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank  repossessions — were reported on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009, a 21  percent increase in total properties from 2008 and a 120 percent increase in  total properties from 2007. The report also shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S.  housing units (one in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing during the  year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007 and 0.58 percent in  2006.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 349,519 U.S.  properties in December, a 14 percent jump from the previous month and a 15  percent increase from December 2008 — when a similar monthly jump in  foreclosure activity occurred. Despite the increase in December, foreclosure  activity in the fourth quarter decreased 7 percent from the third quarter,  although it was still up 18 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008.
"As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably  would have been worse if not for legislative and industry-related delays in  processing delinquent loans," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer  of RealtyTrac. "After peaking in July with over 361,000 homes receiving a  foreclosure notice, we saw four straight monthly decreases driven primarily by  short-term factors: trial loan modifications, state legislation extending the  foreclosure process and an overwhelming volume of inventory clogging the  foreclosure pipeline.