Foreclosures Filings Drop but Still Exceed 300,000

While there was a decrease of 3 percent in the number of foreclosure filings reported in June from the previous month, and a 7 percent decrease from June 2009, the number of filings topped 300,000 for the 16th straight month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 313,841 U.S. properties in June, according to RealtyTrac.

For the first half of 2010, default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions were reported on 1,654,634 U.S. properties. That's a 5 percent decrease on the previous six months, but an 8 percent increase over the first six months of 2009. In fact one in 78 U.S. housing units got at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of the year.

But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Default and auction notices were down on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis in the second quarter. Yet bank repossessions increased 5 percent from the previous quarter and 38 percent from Q2 2009, to 269,962. So the light is very dim, because this is a new quarterly high for the report.