BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Data released today by Foreclosure.com indicates that the number of new residential foreclosures decreased by 6.7 percent from July to August. A total of 26,255 new residential foreclosures were reported nationwide in August.

The company's figures, however, show that new residential foreclosures are up from a year ago -- a 7.3 percent increase in new foreclosures was reported compared to data from August 2005.

Foreclosure.com maintains America's largest and most accurate database of residential foreclosures.

"We continue to see fluctuations when analyzing data month-to-month," said Brad Geisen, president and CEO of Foreclosure.com. "But as we near the end of the third quarter, most housing and economic indicators point to a sustained period of increased new foreclosure activity across the country."

Foreclosure.com also reports that the active inventory of foreclosures available for sale in August was 85,467 -- 1.2 percent less than in July. This was the second consecutive month that the active inventory dropped and it is now at the lowest level of the year. In addition, data reveals that 32 percent of the active foreclosure inventory was sold in August. This is down slightly from July (35 percent), but remains higher that the average from the first two quarters of 2006 (30 percent).

"Our analysis of the active inventory data, as well as increased traffic to our online database of foreclosure properties, clearly demonstrates that homebuyers and investors are capitalizing on good deals," Geisen added. "While home sales are waning across the country and inventory levels of new and existing homes are reaching record high levels, the demand for foreclosed homes is strong."

Geisen also points to the West region as an emerging foreclosure hot spot because three states experienced significant increases in new foreclosures and active foreclosure inventory from July to August 2006, including:

-- Arizona - 155 percent increase in new foreclosures -- California - 32 percent increase in new foreclosures -- New Mexico - 10 percent increase in new foreclosures

"For California homeowners, the worst could be yet to come," Geisen noted. "Home prices there are coming down from their historically high rates, buyers are drying up, and it has become difficult lately to sell a home to avoid foreclosure in the Golden State. Because of this situation, we anticipate significant increases in California's foreclosure rates if the current housing situation continues as more and more preforeclosures convert to foreclosures."

Foreclosure.com tracks foreclosures county-by-county, state-by-state, in real time and is used by homebuyers and investors to assist in making informed purchasing decisions.

Other key Foreclosure.com findings for August include: -- Based on new foreclosure rates, seven of the top eight states experienced a drop in the number of new foreclosures in August compared to July. - Of these states, the largest decreases in foreclosures were in the Midwest: Indiana (-18.9 percent), Michigan (-20.6 percent) and Ohio (-16.1 percent). -- State rankings for active foreclosures did not change from July to August for the top seven states. - In order they are: Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Utah, Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio. -- The following state rankings for new foreclosures changed in August: - Georgia moved back to No. 1 (No. 2 in July) for the 4th time in the past five months. - Colorado moved up to No. 2 (No. 3 in July) - Michigan moved down to No. 3 (No. 1 in July); however, Wayne County remains the county with the highest amount of new foreclosures in country. - Indiana remained at No. 4 and Texas moved up to No. 5 (No. 9 in July) - Kansas moved into the top 10 states for foreclosure rates for the first time in 2006, ranking No. 9 in August (No. 14 in July). New foreclosures in Kansas rose 41 percent from July (301) to August (423). Foreclosure Data for August 2006: ALABAMA KANSAS NEW YORK Active Properties: 1,750 Active Properties: 1,044 Active Properties: 1,685 New Foreclosures: 573 New Foreclosures: 423 New Foreclosures: 538 ALASKA KENTUCKY NORTH CAROLINA Active Properties: 54 Active Properties: 1,377 Active Properties: 3,524 New Foreclosures: 18 New Foreclosures: 329 New Foreclosures: 1,258 ARIZONA LOUISIANA NORTH DAKOTA Active Properties: 967 Active Properties: 417 Active Properties: 49 New Foreclosures: 303 New Foreclosures: 146 New Foreclosures: 22 ARKANSAS MAINE OHIO Active Properties: 758 Active Properties: 116 Active Properties: 6,961 New Foreclosures: 213 New Foreclosures: 48 New Foreclosures: 2,144 CALIFORNIA MARYLAND OKLAHOMA Active Properties: 3,001 Active Properties: 278 Active Properties: 1,233 New Foreclosures: 498 New Foreclosures: 118 New Foreclosures: 478 COLORADO MASSACHUSETTS OREGON Active Properties: 5,577 Active Properties: 645 Active Properties: 572 New Foreclosures: 1,350 New Foreclosures: 161 New Foreclosures: 102 CONNECTICUT MICHIGAN PENNSYLVANIA Active Properties: 185 Active Properties: 8,516 Active Properties: 2,294 New Foreclosures: 65 New Foreclosures: 2,772 New Foreclosures: 704 DELAWARE MINNESOTA RHODE ISLAND Active Properties: 72 Active Properties: 1,735 Active Properties: 101 New Foreclosures: 27 New Foreclosures: 633 New Foreclosures: 35 DC MISSISSIPPI SOUTH CAROLINA Active Properties: 17 Active Properties: 699 Active Properties: 2,017 New Foreclosures: 3 New Foreclosures: 251 New Foreclosures: 714 FLORIDA MISSOURI SOUTH DAKOTA Active Properties: 822 Active Properties: 3,021 Active Properties: 80 New Foreclosures: 290 New Foreclosures: 786 New Foreclosures: 31 GEORGIA MONTANA TENNESSEE Active Properties: 7,176 Active Properties: 60 Active Properties: 3,668 New Foreclosures: 2,478 New Foreclosures: 20 New Foreclosures: 983 HAWAII NEBRASKA TEXAS Active Properties: 7 Active Properties: 550 Active Properties: New Foreclosures: 6 New Foreclosures: 170 10,160 New Foreclosures: 3,599 IDAHO NEVADA UTAH Active Properties: 146 Active Properties: 743 Active Properties: 1,456 New Foreclosures: 34 New Foreclosures: 141 New Foreclosures: 196 ILLINOIS NEW HAMPSHIRE VERMONT Active Properties: 2,876 Active Properties: 138 Active Properties: 28 New Foreclosures: 738 New Foreclosures: 42 New Foreclosures: 7 INDIANA NEW JERSEY VIRGINIA Active Properties: 4,447 Active Properties: 366 Active Properties: 598 New Foreclosures: 1,381 New Foreclosures: 127 New Foreclosures: 224 IOWA NEW MEXICO WASHINGTON Active Properties: 843 Active Properties: 364 Active Properties: 479 New Foreclosures: 283 New Foreclosures: 149 New Foreclosures: 112 WEST VIRGINIA Active Properties: 424 New Foreclosures: 109 WISCONSIN Active Properties: 1,240 New Foreclosures: 416 WYOMING Active Properties: 31 New Foreclosures: 7 About Foreclosure.com

With more than 1.2 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO and tax lien listings in one place, Foreclosure.com delivers America's largest and most accurate searchable database of foreclosed homes and investment property information to its customers and business partners. Based in Boca Raton, Florida, Foreclosure.com works with hundreds of top lending institutions and government agencies to list diverse property types on its Web site, including Real Estate Owned (REO); Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); Fannie Mae; and other government agency and financial institution properties; as well as listings from an extensive network of corporate sellers. On the Web: http://www.foreclosure.com/ .

CONTACT: Steven Schwadron, +1-305-520-9005, schwadrs@fleishman.com , or
Jocelyn Jara, +1-305-520-9030, jaraj@fleishman.com , both of Fleishman-Hillard
Miami

Web site: http://www.foreclosure.com/