From RealtyTrac for May:
Georgia posts highest state foreclosure rate for first time since February 2006
Georgia foreclosure activity in May increased 33 percent from the previous month and 30 percent from a year ago, helping the state post the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the month — one in every 300 housing units with a foreclosure filing. Georgia’s foreclosure rate leapfrogged the foreclosure rates in Arizona, Florida, California and Nevada, all of which posted higher foreclosure rates than Georgia in the previous month.
Georgia has been steadily moving up the list of the states worst hit by the housing bust, so this May data from RealtyTrac is hardly a surprise. To add insult to injury, Georgia got shortchanged in the $25 billion mortgage settlement.
In part, Georgia’s top ranking for the foreclosure rate is probably related to the growing popularity of short sales and pre-foreclosure auctions around the country. Check out this post at Calculated Risk to see the changes in proportion of different types of distressed sales in some of the nation’s hardest hit markets.
A couple of graphics embedded from RealtyTrac, which I assume are self-explanatory: