by Calculated Risk on 6/13/2008 09:21:00 AM

From Bloomberg: Foreclosures Rise 48% in May as U.S. Bank Repossessions Double

One in every 483 U.S. homeowners lost their houses to foreclosure or received either a default warning or notice that their home would go up for sale at auction, RealtyTrac said.
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The number of national foreclosure filings grew 7 percent from April, according to RealtyTrac.
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Lenders took possession of 73,794 houses in May, more than doubling the 28,548 REOs in May 2007, RealtyTrac said. That pushed total REOs to more than 700,000, RealtyTrac said.
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Foreclosures will account for 30 percent of national home sales this year as 1.2 million foreclosed single-family homes will eventually enter the market, [Michelle Meyer and Ethan Harris, economists at Lehman Brothers] said.

Update: here are the actual stats from RealtyTrac (hat tip many)

The total REOs available increasing to 700,000 is a key number, as is the estimate that foreclosures will account for 30% of sales this year.

The beat goes on ...