February Foreclosures Up 60%

credit: Kanou HirokiIt seems like most finance news is bad news lately, and unfortunately this is no different: In February 2008, the national foreclosure went up 60%, compared to foreclosures in February 2007.

Last month, 223,651 homes filed for foreclosure last month, and 45,508 (20.3%) were lost to bank repossession. This is more than twice as many repossessions as in February 2007. The foreclosure filing rate is down 6% since January, similar to the 4% decrease between January and February 2007.

So what do all these foreclosures mean? It is, of course, an indication of the state of the economy and of individual families, but it also seems to show that all government efforts and interventions are having little effect in keeping homeowners afloat.

Urban areas are taking the hardest hits, with California showing a 131% increase since last year. The Florida’s Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area shows the worst statistics, with one in every 84 households undergoing foreclosure. That’s 6.7 times the national average.

There is great concern over what the federal government can do to help families in need, since current measure don’t seem to be working. However, experts point out that the new federal measures aren’t actually failing (just not improving), so perhaps with a few tweaks and changes, help will soon be on the way.

Tags: credit | forclosures | Mortgages