Cities Are Ground Zero for the Foreclosure Crisis

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting map of the latest foreclosure data for the U.S. You can hover over each state to see how many foreclosed properties are on the market, and who is selling them: the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

California is, not surprisingly, in the worst shape, with 8,943 foreclosed properties on the market. Georgia is second worst, with 6,431, and Michigan is third worst with 6,321. These three states account for 40 percent of the map.

Florida is doing slightly better with 5,767, Texas has 4,354, and Illinois has 4,039.

The map also includes an interesting breakdown of the metro areas still struggling the most with foreclosures.

And as this chart shows, the foreclosures in these metro areas often account for a huge share of the foreclosures in these states, which should make it clear that the foreclosure crisis continues to be a metropolitan crisis.

Photo credit: Joshua Lott/Reuters