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Spike in Foreclosures Puts New Jersey Among Nation’s Top Five

foreclosure-notice-two [1]Foreclosure activity skyrocketed in New Jersey for the month of August, giving the Garden State the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to RealtyTrac [2]'s monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for August 2014 [3] released September 11.

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure starts increased year-over-year in New Jersey by 115 percent in August, reaching their highest level since January 2014. Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased by 71 percent year-over-year in August, pushing them to their highest point since July 2010.

The huge upward turns of both foreclosure starts and scheduled auctions combined to place New Jersey fourth among states with the highest foreclosure rate for August, RealtyTrac reported. New Jersey had one filing for every 553 housing units in August, behind only Florida (1:400), Nevada (1:524), and Maryland (1:532). Georgia was fifth with one in every 582 housing units. The national average was one filing for every 1,126 properties.

Among metro areas with a population of more than 200,000, Atlantic City had the second highest rate in the nation, RealtyTrac reported. The city nicknamed "America's Playground" had one foreclosure for every 292 properties in August, which is about four times the national average and second among large metro areas behind only Macon, Georgia, which had one in every 154. August was the 28th out of the last 30 months in which foreclosure activity in Atlantic City increased year-over-year.

RealtyTrac reported that nationwide, scheduled foreclosure auctions ticked up by 1 percent year-over-year for August after 44 consecutive months of annual declines. The last time auctions increased was in November 2010. In all, filings jumped 7 percent from July to August but dropped 9 percent from August 2013, according to RealtyTrac.