Home foreclosure activity jumped 48% in May compared to a year ago, as substantially more default notices, auction sales notices, and bank repossessions were reported than in the same month a year ago, research firm RealtyTrac announced Friday.

In May, one in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure notice, RealtyTrac said, adding that foreclosure activity increased in 40 of 50 states in the same period.

Foreclosure filings - - which include default notices, auction sales, and bank repossessions - - totaled 261,255 in May, a 7% increase from April and a 48% increases from a year ago, RealtyTrac announced.

Housing recession continues

Economist Peter Dawson said Friday it's hard to sugar-coat May's housing data from RealtyTrac. "The statistics continue to show a housing sector in deep recession, no two ways about it," Dawson said. "Foreclosures remain at troubling levels, inventories are high, prices continue to fall, and lender requirements are high. We're in for at least another 2-3 quarters of housing doldrums, probably more, with disappointing sales and home building and that will weigh on the U.S. economy."

In May, Nevada (1 in 118 households) had the U.S.'s highest foreclosure filing rate, followed by California (1 in 183), Arizona (1 in 201), and Florida (1 in 228). Vermont (1 in 103,186 households), West Virginia (1 in 20,900), North Dakota (1 in 13,991), and South Dakota (1 in 11,760) had the nation's lowest foreclosure filing rates.

Housing Sector Analysis: The key statistic obviously is the large - - 48% - - increase in foreclosure filing activity in May compared to a year ago. The elevated activity rate indicates the U.S. housing sector remains in deep recession and is not likely to record a recovery in U.S. median home prices in 2008 - - something that, as Dawson noted, will weigh on U.S. GDP. Moreover, if median home prices started to recover before next year at this time (May 2009), that would be an unexpected (and welcomed) development.