From Housing Wire:

Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 243,353 properties in April, a 4 percent increase from March’s total and a nearly 65 percent increase from one year earlier. The data, reported Wednesday by foreclosure marketplace and data firm RealtyTrac, shows that the housing market has yet to cycle through a preponderance of bad mortgages.

“The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“Although only about 2 percent of households nationwide are in foreclosure, these properties contribute to already bloated inventories of homes for sale, and put downward pressure on home values.”

Georgia was again in the top ten states with the greatest number of foreclosures, ranking seventh overall, with one out of every 422 homes affected.