Foreclosures Continue to Boom.

Byline: Jennifer Harmon

Irvine, CA-Despite the efforts to stem foreclosures by government and many banks, the hopeful signs of slowing in the last quarter of 2008 and January of this year didn't follow through in February, according to top executives from two companies that track rising foreclosures across the country.

RealtyTrac's February 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows foreclosure filings including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions on 290,631 properties during February, an increase of nearly 6% from January and up almost 30% from February 2008. The increase is somewhat surprising, given that many of the foreclosure prevention efforts and moratoria in place in January were extended through most of February as well, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac here.

"There were some notable exceptions to this: a 45-day voluntary moratorium in Florida expired at the end of January and foreclosure activity there was up 14% from the previous month, and many New York foreclosure proceedings delayed by a new law for an extra 90 days appear to have hit the system in February, when the state's foreclosure activity increased 23% from the previous month," Mr. Saccacio said.

Nevada continued to document the nation's top state foreclosure rate. Foreclosure filings were reported on 15,783 properties, a 9% increase from January and a 156% increase from February 2008. Arizona posted the second highest rate with one in every 147 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, and the state of California was third with one in every 165 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 80,775 California properties in February, the most of any state and a 5% increase from January.

The state's foreclosure activity increased 51% from February 2008, with auction sale notices increasing nearly 179%.