Homes Lost to Foreclosure Experience Sharp Rise

The housing climate received another setback in May, as more than 73,000 homes were lost to bank repossessions in the month of May. It's an increase of 158 percent from the same period last year, when 28,548 homes were dispossessed.

Foreclosure filings of all kinds, including default notices, notices of sheriff's sales and bank repossessions, were up 48 percent from May 2007.

According to RealtyTrac, May also marked the 29th consecutive year-over-year increase in filings. The data translates to one foreclosure filing per 483 households nationwide.

Default rates will rise for many more months, according to RealtyTrac vice president Rick Sharga, who thinks that there could be another 18 months of this activity left. Several factors will continue to boost filings.

"We haven't even seen the full effects of the Alt-As (mostly loans issued without verification of income and assets) yet," said Sharga. Many of these mortgages are option ARMs, negative amortization loans that let borrowers make very small, minimum payments that don't even cover the interest they owe each month. But soon, these payments will spike.