The housing crisis has not reached its bottom as the market got worse in May as evidenced by the 73,000 American families losing homes to bank repossessions. The increase was 158% from the 28,548 households that were lost in May 2007.

Foreclosure filings of all kinds, including default notices, notices of sheriff's sales and bank repossessions, increased 7% from April and were up 48% from May 2007. This was the 29th month that RealtyTrac have seen a year-over-year increase according to RealtyTrac’s CEO James Saccacio.

Nevada remained the most troubled default state for the 17th consecutive month. One out of every 118 households there received some kind of foreclosure filing during May, up 24% from the previous month and 72% from a year ago.

California led the nation in the sheer volume of filings, with nearly 72,000 properties in some stage of default, which works out to one out of every 183 households. More than 20,000 Californians lost their homes, more than any other state.

Florida recorded over 37,000 filings and 4,300 bank repossessions. Nine of the top 10 cities with the most foreclosure filings were in either Florida or California.

Stockton, Calif., was the worst-hit city last month, with one filing for every 75 households. Cape Coral, Fla., where one out of every 79 homes received a filing, was second. Other hard-hit places were Merced, Calif., which ranked third, Modesto, Calif., which was fourth and Riverside, Calif., which was fifth.

Las Vegas was the only city outside of California and Florida to crack the top 10. In May it had one filing for every 96 households - about five times the national average - which put it in sixth place.

As more people than ever are losing their homes, some state and local governments are trying to slow the foreclosure tsunami. Colorado has extended the initial default period to as much as 125 days, and Maryland has increased it to 150 days.

In Philadelphia, homeowner's can't be foreclosed on without having the opportunity to go through a court-sponsored reconciliation session.