US foreclosure filings hit a record in the first half, a sign that job losses and falling property prices deepened the housing recession, according to RealtyTrac.

More than 1.5 million properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in the six months through June, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said today in a statement. That’s a 15% increase from the year earlier. One in 84 US households received a filing.

'People are losing their jobs, seeing their income go down and are underwater on their mortgage,' Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in an interview. 'It’s a toxic combination.'

bloomberg.com