NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The number of Louisiana households facing the loss of their homes rose by 40 percent from February to March, but the state continued to track behind most of the nation in the overall count, according to date released Thursday.
Last month, 947 homeowners in the state received at least one foreclosure-related notice, said RealtyTrac Inc., a foreclosure listing firm. That figure is up 51 percent from March 2008.
Louisiana ranked 37th in the country in March in properties with foreclosure filings, which range from an initial notice of default to outright repossession. During the month, RealtyTrac said 200 Louisiana homes were repossessed.
For the first quarter of 2009, a total of 1,971 homeowners in Louisiana received at least one notice. That ranked 40th in the country and was up 15.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008, but only 1.7 percent from the first quarter of 2008, RealtyTrac said. During the latest quarter, 436 homes were repossessed.
During the first quarter, one out of every 943 homeowners in the state had received at least one foreclosure-related notice.
Nationwide, the number of American households threatened with losing their homes grew 24 percent in the first three months of this year. Nearly 804,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from January through March, up from about 650,000 in the same time period a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.
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