Foreclosures Up in Michigan

Although their foreclosure rates ranked below the nation's 10 highest, California, Illinois, New York and Michigan were among the 10 states reporting the most new foreclosures in 2005. According to RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosed properties:

· Michigan had 33,523 properties enter some stage of foreclosure in 2005, the ninth highest level among all states.

· Michigan annually averages one foreclosure for every 126 households, a foreclosure rate that ranks 16th highest among all states, and is slightly higher than the national average.

· Michigan reported more foreclosures in every quarter, and 2.7 times as many foreclosures in Q4 vs. Q1 '05.

Nationally, there were 850,000 properties entering some state of foreclosure in 2005. That's up 25% from 2004, but still less than 1% of all U.S. households. Florida, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee had the highest number of foreclosures last year.