Despite efforts by the federal government, state governments, nonprofits and some banks to help mitigate foreclosures, lender and tax foreclosures continue to increase. In RealtyTrac's data for February, foreclosure filings nationwide increased by almost 6 percent from January to 290,631 units in February. Counts of foreclosure filings include notices of default, notices of sale and bank repossessions.



With continued corporate downsizing and layoffs, tax foreclosures are expected to follow the upward trend of lender foreclosures. For some homeowners, the threat of both lender and tax foreclosures are hovering around them.

Mark Zandi, analyst at Moody's economy.com, said he is disappointed with the February data. It shows the continued financial difficulties faced by American homeowners. It also shows the severity of challenges that need to be overcome by President Obama's administration to solve the foreclosure problem, whether they involve lender foreclosures or tax foreclosures.

Similarly, Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors was also let down by the 6 percent increase. He said it is higher than what he expected. He attributed the continued increase in foreclosures to the rising unemployment level, which is also affecting persons threatened by tax foreclosures.

In a ranking of the ten states with the highest foreclosure rates in February, Nevada is on top. One housing unit for every 70 units in the state received a foreclosure notice, giving a total of 15,783 residential properties receiving foreclosure filings. This figure represents an increase of 9 percent from January and an increase of 156 percent from February.

Arizona is second in the ranking, with one unit for every 147 houses receiving a foreclosure filing. California is third, with one unit for every 165 houses receiving a filing. California, however, had the highest number of foreclosure filings, with 80,755 residential properties notified with foreclosures in February.

Rick Sharga, vice-president for marketing at RealtyTrac, said he expects the foreclosure figures to increase once the foreclosure moratoriums are ended. He is concerned that the moratoriums had hidden the real conditions of numerous mortgage loans and that the figures would affect the momentum of Obama's housing program.

Many economists also believe that foreclosures will continue to increase because of the rising unemployment rate. This is also the factor causing the increase in tax foreclosures in several areas of the country. Brian Bethune of IHS Global Insight said 651,000 jobs were eliminated in February, pushing up the total of job losses to 4.2 million since December 2007 when the recession began.