Foreclosure filings fell 6% in May from April, according to RealtyTrac, a provider of foreclosure data. “A total of 321,480 properties received a default or auction notice or were repossessed in May, up 18% from a year earlier,” said RealtyTrac in a statement. The 18% rise is the smallest annual gain since mid-2006. Foreclosure filings have crossed 300,000 in each of the 3 months until May, and according to experts the total number of foreclosure filings may cross 1.8 million in the first half of this year. Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate with one in every 64 households, more than six times the national average. California ranked second at one in 144 households and Florida had the third-highest rate at one in 148 households. The national average is 1 in 398 households. With unemployment reaching a 25-year high, economists do not expect any reduction in foreclosures in the near-future. “The foreclosure bucket is filling faster than it’s emptying,” said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “It will continue through next quarter at least.” According to analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co., home foreclosures in the U.S. will total 6.4 million by mid-2011, and inventories of foreclosed homes awaiting sale will peak in mid-2010 at 2 million properties