Utah foreclosures up 141%

Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but 11 states, RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, Calif., stated. The report monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions throughout the United States.

Economists project 2.5 million homes nationwide will enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007.

Analysts also say the mortgage industry's effort to assist troubled borrowers is being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the foreclosure crisis, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said earlier this week that many foreclosures are "not preventable," with borrowers who "took out mortgages they can't possibly afford, and they will lose their homes."

For the third month in a row, California and Florida cities accounted for nine out of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates among the 230 metropolitan areas tracked in the report.

The states of Nevada, California and Arizona continued to lead the nation in the rate of foreclosure filings, the report said.

Nevada was up nearly 85 percent from June 2007, with one in every 122 households receiving a foreclosure filing. California had second-highest rate, with one in every 192 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in June, while Arizona ranked third at one in every 201 households.

Matthews said the Utah market may be "halfway through" its economic pains and could see further struggles for the next year.

"There is still at least as much reduction in home prices left ahead of us as has occurred in the past," he said. "We're down about 8 to 10 percent in sales prices from the peak, and we have another 8 to 10 percent reduction in average sales price to go."

---

Contributing: Associated Press.

---

E-mail: jlee@desnews.com