Foreclosures are up in King County and across state

Foreclosures have increased in King County, but they have not yet peaked locally or nationally, according to a new report.

The number of properties facing foreclosure in February was up 37 percent in Washington and 60 percent nationwide from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., company that tracks foreclosures.

Foreclosures dropped 4 percent nationally in February, but that's less than last year's January-to-February drop.

Meanwhile, foreclosures were up 0.9 percent in Washington from January, and King County foreclosures rose 7.6 percent from January.

RealtyTrac could not provide a reliable figure for King County's year-to-year change because of a problem with its data collection last year.

But notices of trustee sale, which are the first step in the foreclosure process, were up 104 percent in February from a year earlier, according to county records.

The state's rate of one filing per 1,194 households put it 28th among states and was less than half the national rate of one per 557 households.

The Seattle area, which RealtyTrac considers King and Snohomish counties, had one filing per 1,450 households in February, putting it 166 out of 229 metropolitan areas. That was up from 173rd place in January.

The 60 percent annual increase nationwide was more than three times the increase from February 2006 to February 2007, James Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive, said.

"We have still not reached the peak of foreclosure activity in this cycle," he said.

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 165 households receiving a filing. California and Florida were second and third, with rates of one in every 242 and 254 households, respectively.

California and Florida were the top two for total properties with filings and combined accounted for 38.5 percent of all U.S. properties with filings.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., had the highest rate among metropolitan areas, with one in every 84 households receiving a foreclosure filing.