"A total of 31,57,806 foreclosure filings default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions were reported on 23,30,483 US properties during the year, an 81 per cent increase in total properties from 2007," RealtyTrac said in its 2008 US Foreclosure Market Report.
The report shows that 1.84 per cent of all US housing units - one in 54 - received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.03 per cent in 2007.
For the month of December, foreclosure filings were reported on 3,03,410 US properties, up 17 per cent from the previous month and nearly 41 per cent more as compared with December 2007.
"Clearly, the foreclosure prevention programmes implemented to-date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami," RealtyTrac chief executive officer James Saccacio said in a statement. Nevada, Florida and Arizona were the three states posting top foreclosure rates in 2008.
More than seven per cent of Nevada housing units (one in 14) received at least one foreclosure notice in 2008, giving it the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the year.
Florida registered the nation's second highest state foreclosure rate in 2008, with 4.52 per cent of its housing units (one in 22) receiving at least one foreclosure filing.
