US Home foreclosures surge 48 percent*

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON

The number of US homeowners swept up in the housing crisis rose further
last month, with foreclosure filings up nearly 50 percent compared with
a year earlier, a foreclosure listing company said Friday.

Across the United States, 261,255 homes received at least one
foreclosure-related filing in May, up 48 percent from 176,137 in the
same month last year and up 7 percent from April, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

One in every 483 US households received a foreclosure filing in May, the
highest number since RealtyTrac started the report in 2005 and the
second-straight monthly record.

Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but 10 states.
Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan had the highest
statewide foreclosure rates.

Lehman Brothers economist Michelle Meyer said in a report Thursday that
US home sales are likely to hit bottom at the end of this summer, but
said a recovery in sales is likely to be "feeble." Home prices, she
wrote, are still expected to fall another 10 percent by the end of 2009.