NEW YORK, Feb. 22 — ForeclosureListings.com, confirmed that the national foreclosure rate in January was one foreclosure filing for every 466 U.S. households; the most severe problems continue in the West and in Florida. Unemployment, economic hardship, negative equity, and credit availability are driving the foreclosures.
Yet between the months of December 2009 and January 2010 a drop in the actual number of foreclosures was recorded. The latest data revealed:
Top States of Number of Foreclosures
Calif. -16.68% foreclosures
Fla. -11.95% foreclosures
Mich. +14.85% foreclosures
Texas +15.85% foreclosures
Ga. +1.9% foreclosures
The biggest drop in the state foreclosure market was in Arkansas at -24.75%. Oklahoma had the highest increase in state foreclosures at 37.28%. But Nevada had the highest monthly foreclosure rate in the country with one in every 94 households receiving a notice. Arizona ranked second with one in every 132 households receiving a foreclosure notice, followed by Florida (one in every 158 households), Idaho (one in every 159 households) and California (one in every 165 households).
Rumblings from mortgage professionals expose that many homeowners are on the brink of foreclosure as their property values have fallen amid the housing market collapse, exacerbating the effort to refinance loans for mortgages with negative equity. And as unemployment continues to plague the nation, the available buyers are also fewer, compounding the problem.
Some cities are expectedly more severely affected than others by the unemployment situation and the negative equity situation. Data shows the number of foreclosures and the percent change from December '09 to January to be:
| City and State | Foreclosures | Change |
| Las Vegas, Nev. | 2437 | 4.01% |
| Denver, Colo. | 2170 | 2.21% |
| Aurora, Colo. | 1491 | 3.61% |
| Chicago, Ill. | 1293 | -5.75% |
| Phoenix, Ariz. | 1222 | -22.60% |
| Atlanta, Ga. | 1117 | -6.37% |
| Memphis, Tenn. | 1063 | 10.61% |
| Cleveland, Ohio | 913 | -7.30% |
| Houston, Texas | 865 | 11.90% |
| Columbus, Ohio | 848 | -0.58% |
| Detroit, Mich. | 711 | -2.33% |
| Miami, Fla. | 571 | -14.13% |
| San Antonio, Texas | 519 | +12.09% |
| Los Angeles, Calif. | 419 | -12.34% |
Top States of Foreclosures
| State | January | Change |
| Calif. | $378,820 | +0.81% |
| Fla. | $226,060 | -0.21% |
| Mich. | $121,530 | +3.8% |
| Texas | $138,102 | -10.71% |
| Ga. | $521,138 | +43.23% |
