Sun and Rust Belt Cities Dominate Remainder of Nation’s Top 10
New Orleans and Boston Among Cities With Lowest Foreclosure Rates

Irvine, Calif. – May 23, 2006 – RealtyTrac™ (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its first annual 2006 U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which ranks the foreclosure rates of the top 100 metropolitan areas. This year’s report, based on data captured over the first quarter of 2006, shows Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas having the highest foreclosure rates among the nation’s largest 100 metropolitan areas. Cities in the Sun Belt and Rust Belt generally had the highest foreclosure rates in the first quarter of 2006, while cities in the Northeast and Gulf Coast documented some of the lowest.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest national database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, with more than 600,000 properties in more than 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate and Knight Ridder Online.

“Indianapolis narrowly edged out Atlanta as the city with the highest foreclosure rate in Q1,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Most of the cities with the highest foreclosure rates have above-average unemployment rates and below-average home price appreciation. Unemployment is a major reason why homeowners stop making mortgage payments, and slow home price appreciation can make it harder for homeowners in default to refinance or sell to stop foreclosure.”

Saccacio added that other economic factors such as decreasing affordability, rising interest rates and speculative buying can also fuel foreclosures. He cited Jacksonville, Fla. and Las Vegas Nevada, both of which documented foreclosure rates in the top 10 despite below-average unemployment and above-average home price appreciation.

“Because of the high home prices in many areas, more home buyers have stretched themselves financially with creative, and often risky financing that involves adjustable interest rates, interest only and negative amortization loans” he said. “Home buyers with these types of loans are more susceptible to default and foreclosure when interest rates move higher.”

Top 10 Metro Foreclosure Rates

Indianapolis documented a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure for every 69 households, while Atlanta’s foreclosure rate was one foreclosure for every 70 households. Other top-10 foreclosure rates ranged from one foreclosure for every 99 households in Dallas-Fort Worth to one foreclosure for every 140 households in Canton, Ohio and Las Vegas.

The nation’s largest metropolitan area, New York City, documented a foreclosure rate — one foreclosure for every 434 households — that ranked 59th among the top MSAs. First-quarter foreclosures were even less common in the New England states of Providence, R.I. and Boston, both of which registered foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 lowest.

Several Gulf Coast cities — New Orleans, Mobile, Ala., Baton Rouge, La. and Jackson, Miss. — also documented foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 lowest. Many defaulted properties in the Gulf Coast region are not entering foreclosure because of an extended foreclosure moratorium imposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in counties affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The RealtyTrac 2006 U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report provides the total number of properties entering some stage of foreclosure in each of the nation’s 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas. RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: Pre-foreclosures – Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Foreclosures – Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been re-purchased by a bank).

Metropolitan foreclosure statistics for the nation’s 100 largest MSAs ordered by foreclosure rate:

About RealtyTrac Inc.
Ranked as the fourth-largest real estate site by Nielsen Net Ratings, RealtyTrac Inc. (http://www.realtytrac.com/) is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value. Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure and For Sale By Owner properties, with more than 600,000 properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts more than 2 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to AOL Real Estate, MSN Real Estate and Yahoo! Real Estate. For more information, visit http://www.realtytrac.com/.

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Media Contact:
Michelle Sabolich
Atomic Public Relations
415-402-0230
michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com