Foreclosure Filings Climb in Three-Quarters of U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Foreclosure filings rose in 75 percent of U.S. metropolitan areas in the first half as high unemployment left many homeowners unable to pay their mortgages, according to RealtyTrac Inc. “Foreclosures are spreading out from areas that had been hardest hit,” Rick Sharga, senior VP for marketing at Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, said in a telephone interview. [...]