Feb. foreclosure rates up nearly 60 percent

LOS ANGELES - Nearly 60 percent more U.S. homes faced foreclosure in February than in the same month last year, with Nevada, California and Florida showing the highest foreclosure rates, according to a new report from a research firm.

A total of 223,651 homes across the nation received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, up 59.8 percent from 139,922 a year earlier, said RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, Calif.

Nearly half of the homes on the most recent list had slipped into default for the first time.

In Pennsylvania, 2,245 homes were in foreclosure, up 22 percent from a year before. That equaled one foreclosure for every 2,245 homes in the state. New Jersey had 5,598 homes in foreclosure, 12 percent more than a year ago. It had one foreclosure for every 615 homes.

Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 165 households receiving at least one foreclosure-related notice. It had 6,167 properties facing foreclosure, a 68 percent increase from a year earlier and up 1 percent from January, RealtyTrac said.

Most of the troubled properties were in California, Florida, Texas, Michigan and Ohio - states where home prices have plunged as the housing boom went bust.

The overall U.S. foreclosure rate last month was one filing for every 557 homes.

Last month's total represents a 4 percent dip from January, but the decline was just a seasonal blip, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing.

"We seem to be settling in at a new plateau in terms of monthly activity, but it's a much higher plateau than we were at a year ago," he said.

February marked the 26th consecutive month with a national year-over-year increase in foreclosure-related filings.