February Foreclosures Up

Overall foreclosure filings - which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were reported on 154,281 homes in February, an increase of two percent from the month prior.

Foreclosure filings were up 10 percent in February, starting on 71,488 homes, according to a RealtyTrac report released March 14. The total is nearly 25 percent less than a year ago.

Many of the states reporting large increases in new filings either deal with foreclosures through the court system, or have recently implemented legislation that slows the process down, said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

"Foreclosures have been contained as a threat to the housing market, but there's still hot spots in the foreclosure market in different states that need to be stamped out," said Blomquist.

Repossessions fell more than 10 percent, with banks seizing 45,038 homes, which is less than half of the peak of 102,000 homes that were seized in September 2010, Blomquist said.

Florida had the highest foreclosure rate for the sixth month in a row, as one in every 282 homes there saw a foreclosure filing. That was more than three times the national average of one in every 849 homes. Seven Florida cities ranked among the top 10 metros with the highest foreclosure rates.