Foreclosure starts rise in February but remain down from a year ago

Foreclosure rates across the country and in the Carolinas ticked up in February compared to January, but were down compared to the same time last year, according to the latest report by RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings were reported on nearly 154,300 U.S. properties last month, up 2 percent from January but down 25 percent from February.

In North Carolina, foreclosure proceedings were started on 2,557 homes in February, a 4.3 percent increase from January and a nearly 15 percent decrease from February 2012.

In South Carolina, foreclosure proceedings were begun on 2,867 homes, a 15 percent increase from January and a 34 percent decrease from the same time a year earlier.

RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist said in a statement that while the once-high pace of foreclosures "has been effectively contained and should be reduced to a slow burn in the next two years," that "dangerous foreclosure flare-ups are still popping up" in states where legislation or the courts delayed the foreclosure process.

Such states include Washington, which has seen seven months of rising foreclosure activity, and Maryland, which has seen eight months of rising foreclosure filings, Blomquist said. Florida posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the sixth consecutive month in February, RealtyTrac data shows.

North Carolina ranks 32nd in terms of foreclosure filings, according to RealtyTrac. South Carolina ranks 11th.

Read the full report here.