August Sees Huge Increase in Hawaii Foreclosures

September 16th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosures

The month of August 2008 has seen huge increases in foreclosure filings in Hawaii as compared to the numbers of August 2007. There have been sharp rise in foreclosure postings in Kauai. Nevertheless although the comparative increase is high, the actual numbers of filings are low. There were 336 foreclosure listings this year as compared to 145 in August 2007.

In August in Hawaii the foreclosure rate was 1:1,488 according to RealtyTrac. This has made the state rank 34th in the country in the national foreclosure race.

Across USA, foreclosures rose by 27% in August as compared to August of the previous year. Last month there were 30,879 foreclosures calculating to a rate of 1:416. It was a 12% jump from July. The term foreclosure covers all the stages of the judicial process from default and auction notices to bank repossessions.

In Hawaii the August foreclosure numbers were higher by 47% from July. In July this year the foreclosure rate in Hawaii was 1:2,183.

The biggest increase has been noticed in Kauai. Last month the increase here in the Garden Island was by 700% from 17 foreclosure notices posted in July. This calculated to a high foreclosure rate in Kauai of 1:205. Previously it was 1:1,665.

It appears that the sharp increase was because of the foreclosure proceedings initiated against 100 condo units situated within the radius of Kauai Beach Resort. Brian Anderson, a developer, owned the latter.

The county of Hawaii saw a slight increase from July to August with the numbers rising from 26 to 28 foreclosures. In Honolulu County the foreclosure numbers went down modestly from 108 in July to 106 in August. In Maui County the filings went down to 64 in August from 78 in July this year.

Nevada continued to hold its top rank as the highest offender in foreclosure rates. It calculated to 1:91. The second and third positions were occupied by California and Arizona, according to ReatlyTrac.

James Saccacio the CEO of RealtyTrac said, “In August the total number of U.S. properties that received foreclosure filings as well as the national foreclosure rate were both the highest we’ve seen in any month since we began issuing our report in January 2005.” He added that the annual increase counting to 27% was considerably lower than in previous months of this year when it was moving around 50% to 65%. August has seen this spike mainly because of default activity.