Foreclosures Up a Record 81% in 2008

According to a recent report, U.S. foreclosure filings spiked by more than 81% in 2008, a record, and they’re up 225% compared with 2006.

A total of 861,664 families lost their homes to foreclosure last year, according to RealtyTrac in its year-end report. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings issued during 2008, which means that one of every 54 households received a notice last year.

And despite efforts on the part of both the government and the banking industry to quell the housing crisis, defaults continued to climb as 2008 came to an end. Foreclosure filings were up 17% in December over November, and rose 41% compared with December of 2007.

Foreclosures are closely tied to home prices – they tend to rise as prices fall. And nationally, home prices have fallen more than 21% from their peak, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index. In many areas, the decline has been even worse.

Many analysts predict that if home prices keep plunging, the foreclosure scourge will likely continue.