U.S. February Foreclosures Up 60 Pct on Yr -RealtyTrac (Reuters)

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U.S. home foreclosure filings in February edged down from January but were a whopping 60 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

The surge in foreclosures from a year earlier indicated that the cycle has yet to hit its peak, the firm said.

Home foreclosure filings in February totaled 223,651, down 4 percent from January, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in its February U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions,

In January, home foreclosure filings had risen 8 percent from December.

RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate was one foreclosure filing for every 557 U.S. households in February.