Colorado 5th in April foreclosures

Colorado's foreclosure rate ranked fifth in the nation in April, the same place it has held since January, according to a report released Wednesday by RealtyTrac Inc.

Colorado foreclosure activity in April was down nearly 3 percent from March, and up 3 percent from April 2007, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based marketer of foreclosure properties. One in every 349 Colorado households received a foreclosure filing in April, nearly 1.5 times the national average.

Although widely quoted, RealtyTrac's rankings are controversial. Colorado housing officials have long disputed their accuracy, claiming that RealtyTrac's methodology results in Colorado's filings being double- or even triple-counted. RealtyTrac officials have denied this.

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The latest quarterly delinquency survey by the Washington, D.C.-based Mortgage Bankers Association ranked Colorado 40th in mortgage delinquencies in the fourth quarter of 2007, and 20th for loans in foreclosure.

According to RealtyTrac's April survey, Nevada once again posted the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, followed in order by: California, Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan and Massachusetts.