According to a recent U.S. News and World blog post, Arizona ranks fourth among the top 10 states in terms of foreclosures per household in March.  The list, which was actually compiled by Real Estate Bloggers, is:

While 1 in 139 homes in foreclosure is surely very high compared to historical levels, we’re still only talking about 0.7% of the homes.  Calling this a “foreclosure crisis” maybe exaggerates a little, then – it makes it sound like one of every ten (that would be 10%) of homes are in foreclosure.  Not so – not even close.  So even while foreclosure rates have increased 200% in some areas, the numbers are still low in absolute terms.

And notice the states in the top 4 – they’re also the states that experienced the most rapid growth during the housing market boom.  Some people likely bought at the peak, and now – facing mortgage rate adjustments and rising payments, and confronted with negative equity – are choosing to walk away (I blogged about that earlier).

But while the real estate market in states like Ohio and Michigan, which are confronted by rapidly increasing unemployment and what seems like a rapid outflow of employers, may never recover, markets in Nevada, California, Florida and Arizona are simply undergoing a correction – painful, no doubt, but temporary.

On the other end of the scale, the 10 states with the lowest foreclosure rates in March were:

And again, while the difference between 1 in 139 homes (Nevada) and 1 in 154,799 homes may sound like a lot (and if your home is one of them, that’s really all that matters), the actual difference is pretty small.

I don’t mean to sound callous – of course, I empathize deeply with the families who are losing their homes to foreclosure.  I’m simply trying to do a reality check here, and suggest that the foreclosure “crisis” may not be as big and scary as it often seems.