IRVINE, CA—RealtyTrac, a leading source for comprehensive housing data, has released its May 2015 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 126,868 US properties in May 2015, up 1% from the previous month and up 16% from a year ago to a 19-month high. The U.S. foreclosure rate in May was one in every 1,041 housing units with a foreclosure filing.

The increase in May was driven primarily by a jump in bank repossessions (REOs), which at 44,892 were down 1% from the previous month but up 58% from a year ago, and a 5% year-over-year increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions.

REOs increased on a year-over-year basis for the third consecutive month, and scheduled foreclosure auctions have increased on a year-over-year basis in four of the last eight months. May REOs were 56% below the peak of 102,134 REOs in September 2013 but still nearly twice the average monthly number of 23,119 in 2005 and 2006 before the housing bubble burst in August 2006. (Also see special methodology note on REO data collection below.)