Foreclosure filings continued to increase in July according to figures released today by RealtyTrac, a California company which claims ownership of the country’s largest data base on foreclosure activities.

Foreclosure filings which include default notices, scheduled auctions and actual foreclosure sales were reported on 360,149 properties in the United States, an increase of nearly 7 percent over RealtyTrac’s June figures and a 31 percent jump from reported numbers one year ago.   According to RealtyTrac nationally one in every 355 housing units received a foreclosure filing in July.

This is the third time in five months that RealtyTrac figures have set a new record for foreclosure activity.

James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of the company said in a press release, “Despite continued efforts by the federal governments and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we’re seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions.”

As it has for the last 31 months, Nevada has topped the states in reported foreclosures with 7139 initial foreclosure notices sent; a rate of one for every 56 housing units.  This is over six times the national average.   Because of a new state law effective July 1 that requires lenders to offer mediation to homeowners before beginning legal action, initial notices decreased 18 percent from June figures.  However properties further along in the process increased more than 20 percent for the month.  According to the data, nearly 20,000 homes are in some stage of foreclosure in this small state.

California recorded the second highest rate with 108,104 homes in foreclosure, one out of every 123 housing units.  Initial filings increased 15 percent over June.

Other states ranking high based on the rate of foreclosure are Arizona with one in every 135 houses affected; Florida, 1 in 154, Utah, 1 in 250, and Idaho with 1 in 253.

Four states, all of them big beneficiaries of the real estate boom that ended two years ago, represent most of the actual foreclosure numbers.  Taken together, California (108,104), Florida (56,486) Arizona (19,694) and Nevada (19,535) have 57 percent of the total properties in the nation.

According to RealtyTrac, there was a drop in the rate of foreclosures between June and July in 11 states.  The largest decrease was in Rhode Island, down 44 percent followed by Michigan with about 40 percent fewer actions and Mississippi, down 37 percent.  Michigan’s decrease was at least partially due to new legislative action that required lenders to take additional steps to protect homeowners, thus slowing the process.  Georgia, which leads the country in bank failures and ranks 7th in the rate of foreclosures, enjoyed a 20 percent drop in the foreclosure rate in July.