Georgia remained among the states hardest hit by the nation’s foreclosure crisis with the fourth-highest rate of foreclosure filings last month, though it saw a slight drop from January.
Statewide, 12,356 properties had foreclosure filings -- including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- in February, RealtyTrac reported Thursday. That’s one in every 331 homes, compared with one in every 637 nationally.
Filings in February fell 0.89 percent from the previous month and marked a 3.52 percent drop from a year ago, according to the California-based firm, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
Foreclosures are expected to gradually rise this year as banks work through legal issues that have put many foreclosures on hold, RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore said. In 2010, foreclosure activity slowed because of investigations into robo-signing cases involving lenders filing improper or forged paperwork in foreclosures.
"Although national foreclosure activity was pushed lower by decreases in a handful of larger states," Moore said, "21 states posted annual increases in foreclosure activity, the most states with annual increases since November 2010."
Nevada has posted the nation’s top foreclosure rate for 62 months straight, followed by California and Arizona.
Atlanta ranked among metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates last month with one in every 244 homes having a filing. Chicago, Miami, Phoenix and Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., also posted some of the highest rates.
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