US June home foreclosures drop from 30-month peak

NEW YORK, July 12 (Reuters) - U.S. home foreclosure filings fell 7 percent in June to 164,644, although they were still 87 percent above last June's pace, with one filing for every 704 households, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

"The drop in activity was fairly broad, with 33 states reporting month-over-month decreases. Still, the foreclosure rates in most states remained substantially above last year's levels," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a monthly report.

RealtyTrac's foreclosure filing rate represents default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

"Foreclosure activity subsided somewhat in June after hitting a 30-month high in May," Saccacio said.

Nevada's foreclosure rate, with one filing in June for every 175 households, topped the list for the sixth straight month and was more than four times the national average. The state's foreclosure filings dropped by 10 percent from May but remained three times the year-earlier level.

California had the second-highest and Colorado the third-highest foreclosure rates. Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Connecticut and Indiana rounded out the list of the 10 states with the highest rates last month.