According to RealtyTrac Inc., filings for foreclosure surpassed 250,000 for the tenth consecutive month in January while decreasing prices caught homeowners with homes that were worth less than their mortgage.

Properties amounting to 274,399 received a default of auction notification or were taken by banks. It is currently the 37th consecutive year-on-year rise in filings, the seller of default data from Irvine, California stated.

Last year, the housing market lost about $3.3 trillion in value and roughly one out of six owners owed more than their homes were worth. Online data provider Zillow.com further adds that home prices have dropped every month ever since January 2007 and plummeted 18.2 percent last November.

Major Problem

Foreclosure filings last January fell by 10 percent compared to the previous month due to the widespread foreclosure efforts by lenders and government agencies, which included temporary moratoriums by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-finance companies and the Florida state, according to James Saccacio of RealtyTrac Inc. Bank seizures even fell by 15 percent.

On the other hand, finance professor Robert Van Order of the University of Michigan and ex-chief economist at Freddie Mac believes that workout programs can aid people who want to remain in the house, but the major problem is the people who do not want to carry a house underwater, since negative equity is not disappearing any time soon.

Moreover, the root of the problem is the hundreds and thousands of home mortgages that are worth more than their property, or home values which have decreased by 50 percent or more. Rick Sharga, EVP for marketing also stresses that both should have their principal lessened or deferred.

Number One Nevada, Number Two California

The highest foreclosure rate in any state was Nevada, with one in every 76 housing units got a filing last January. Foreclosure filings leaped 137 percent compared to last year’s 144,444.

California got second place, with one in every 173 housing units, with the most total filings of 76,761, a 34 percent increase. Arizona obtained the third-highest rate, with one in every 182 housing units, and foreclosure filings amplified by 62 percent to 14,674.

Other states included in the top 10 highest rates were Oregon, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho, Georgia and Ohio.