By Lauren Ratcliffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 13, 2012

While 20 states saw foreclosure activity rise last month from 2011, national activity declined 15% and foreclosures in South Carolina also decreased.

Previous coverage S.C. foreclosure activity jumps 33%

In the state, foreclosure activity was down 5% in August from August 2011, according to data released by RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracking firm. One in every 677 homes in the state was under some form of foreclosure.

Darren Bloomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said deferred foreclosure activity “boiled over” in many states leading to decreases in overall activity. Some states did see increases, however, and those increases led to a change in the states with the highest rates of foreclosure.

“The increases in Florida and Illinois pushed foreclosure rates in those states to the two highest in the country ­­— supplanting the non-judicial states of Arizona, California, Georgia and Nevada,” Bloomquist said. “Previous to August, the nation’s top two state foreclosure rates have been from those four non-judicial states every month since December 2010.”

August foreclosure activity

S.C. region Lowcountry Berkeley County Charleston County Dorchester Midlands Calhoun County Lexington County Richland County Upstate Anderson County Greenville County Spartanburg County South Carolina U.S.

Number of Foreclosures 168 203 150 1 261 350 143 368 169 3, 156 193,508

Rate of Foreclosure 1 in 437 1 in 837 1 in 368 1 in 7,340 1 in 437 1 in 726 1 in 593 1 in 531 1 in 726 1 in 677 1 in 681

Source: RealtyTrac