Idaho ranks number five in the nation when it comes to foreclosure filings. According to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for July 2010, filings increased nearly 7.5 percent from July 2009 and were up nearly 19 percent from June 2010. 975 notices of default were filed statewide during July. One in every 240 homes was affected by a foreclosure filing statewide during the same time period.

Marc Lebowitz, executive director of the Ada County Association of Realtorssaid in July that 46 percent of all sales in Ada County were distressed properties. Lebowitz said a distressed property could be a property in short sale, in the process of foreclosure, or bank-owned.

Of the active inventory of single family homes currently listed through the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service, 38 percent of them are in distress in Ada County.

“It was the highest in the spring. It has been drifting downward ever since. It’s not a drastic recovery, but it hasn’t gotten worse,” Lebowitz said.

Intermountain MLS CEO Greg Manship said from January to July 2010, 19 to 22 percent of listed single-family homes were bank-owned. The Intermountain MLS encompasses the southern part of Idaho, extending from eastern Oregon to Twin Falls.

The top three states with the highest number of foreclosure filings in July were Nevada, Arizona and Florida.