Worst State Foreclosure Rates

Foreclosures may be down over a year ago, but new filings were up 3% last month, according to a new report.

“We continued to see vastly different foreclosure trends across the country in October, depending primarily on how each state’s foreclosing infrastructure was able to handle the high volume of delinquent loans during the worst of the foreclosure crisis in 2010,” Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

Things are especially bad for New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. These three states were already dealing with the biggest rebound in deferred foreclosure activity, but they also have to handle damage from superstorm Sandy.

“The foreclosure moratoriums being put into effect as a result of the storm will likely extend the already-lengthy time to foreclose in these states, further prolonging a fundamentally sound housing recovery,” Blomquist said.

These three states also reported the largest annual increases in foreclosure activity with New Jersey up 140%, New York up 123% and Connecticut up 43%. However, Florida had the highest foreclosure rate for the second month in a row — one in every 312 housing units filed a foreclosure.

Despite how poorly New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are doing in the wake of Sandy, plenty of other states have worse foreclosure rates. Here are the 10 worst.

(Foreclosure rate is defined as a foreclosure filing for one in every X homes.)

10. Michigan

Downtown Grand Rapids

Rate: 1 in every 607 homes

Worst county: Wayne

Compared to a year ago: Down 53.68%

9. South Carolina

Historic Hampton neighborhood, Columbia, South Carolina

Rate: 1 in every 601 homes

Worst county: Richland

Compared to a year ago: Down 2.62%

8. Colorado

Downtown Denver

Rate: 1 in every 563 homes

Worst county: Fremont

Compared to a year ago: Down 16.81%

7. Ohio

Shaker-Heights Ohio

Rate: 1 in every 476 homes

Worst county: Stark

Compared to a year ago: Up 24%

6. Georgia

Inman Park, Atlanta

Rate: 1 in every 439

Worst county: Newton

Compared to a year ago: Down 7%

5. Arizona

Phoenix

Rate: 1 in every 420 homes

Worst county: Navajo

Compared to a year ago: Down 36.33%

4. California

Painted Ladies in San Francisco

Rate: 1 in every 379 homes

Worst county: Stanislaus

Compared to a year ago: Down 34.82%

3. Illinois

Chicago

Rate: 1 in every 356 homes

Worst county: Will

Compared to a year ago: Up 18.98%

2. Nevada

Henderson

Rate: 1 in every 352 homes

Worst county: Clark

Compared to a year ago: Down 47.14%

1. Florida

Pompano Beach

Rate: 1 in every 312 homes

Worst county: St. Lucie

Compared to a year ago: Down 12.97%