With August foreclosure figures trickling in to the media this month, more erroneous data reporting is represented throughout all media outlets. Foreclosure filings for August did increase but total foreclosures for the period varied depending on the source.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Biz Journal, “Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 303,879 US properties during August.”  The article, published on September 12, 2008, titled “California has nation’s 2nd highest foreclosure rate in August,” continues by stating that while there were over 300,000 foreclosure flings, “REO properties, more than doubled from a year ago to 90,893.”  The report was based on figures from RealtyTrac, an Irvine based foreclosure listing company. See Article Here.

As mentioned in prior posts, REO properties (Real Estate Owned Properties) represent homes that have received a foreclosure notice, failed to make current on the loan, and the bank has taken ownership.

An article published by Market Watch had a similar finding from another foreclosure listings service, ForeclosureS.com. The article titled, “ForeclosureS.com Reports More Than 100,000 Homeowners Lost Home in August; One Million Foreclosures Expected in 2008,” details nationwide foreclosure activity.

Published on September 8, 2008, the article written by Sofia Gutierrez, an employee of ForeclosureS.com, offers the following information, “Nearly 102,000 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure in August, up nearly 6 percent from July and more than 80 percent higher than in August 2007, according to data released earlier this week by ForeclosureS.com.”

The Market Watch article does not provide the details as far as the foreclosure notices are concerned, but considering the 5.5 million listings advertised at the end of the article, one can assume that the filings would be much great than RealtyTrac’s reported 300,000.

While the difference between the August foreclosure numbers are not staggering, it is enough to raise eyebrows.  Even a variation of 12% in the amount of foreclosures reported, can effect whether foreclosures are in fact decreasing or increasing.  As exemplified within the article, ForeclosureS.com reported an increase of 80 percent while RealtyTrac reported more than a 100 percent increase- a 20 percent difference. These disparities between figures can truly alter the reader’s perception of the market and the economy.

Also, journalist and publishers have a responsibility to point out these discrepancies and not simply take “there are differences in the way we count data,” as a reasonable answer.