20 Cities Where Foreclosures Are A Huge Problem

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. declined by 2 percent in February from the previous month.  Filings are down 8 percent from a year ago.

But the latest U.S. foreclosure market report from RealtyTrac shows that ten of the nation's twenty largest metro areas saw year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity.

RealtyTrac's Daren Blomquist explains that foreclosure activity is increasing as some states use the judicial process where each foreclosure becomes a court case:

"The foreclosure process became more bogged down in these states as a result of the fallout from the robo-signing scandal, causing foreclosure activity to drop to artificially low levels in 2011. Now we’re seeing some pretty eye-popping increases off those artificially low levels and the foreclosure industry plays catch up."

Drawing on RealtyTrac data we put together a quick guide to the foreclosure activity in the 20 largest metropolitan areas across the U.S.. The metros that saw increases in foreclosure activity were mostly on the East Coast or the Midwest, while those in the West saw decreases.

And the outlook for 2012 isn't much better, "More waves of foreclosure rolling into the market over the course of the year, which will result in an overall increase of 15 percent in foreclosure activity for the year compared to 2011."

Note: All data is for the 20 largest metros. Data for properties with foreclosure filings is for February 2012.

#20 New York

1 in every 3,439 homes received a foreclosure filing in December 2011

Properties with foreclosure filings:
2,189

Change from Feb 2011:
-40.50%

Change from Jan 2012:
-11.38%

Source: RealtyTrac

#19 Baltimore

1 in every 1,622 homes received a foreclosure filing in February 2012

Properties with foreclosure filings:
698

Change from Feb 2011:
+41.01%

Change from Jan 2012:
+32.45%

Source: RealtyTrac

#18 Boston

1 in every 1,403 homes received a foreclosure filing in February 2012

Properties with foreclosure filings:
1,342

Change from Feb 2011:
+20.47%

Change from Jan 2012:
-15.70%

Source: RealtyTrac

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