Both Ada County and Canyon County in Idaho saw record number of house repossession filings in July. Both counties posted over 800 combined default notices last month. The county of Ada leads the foreclosure filing activity with 534 notices, an increase from the 493 filings posted in June.

Meanwhile, default notices in Canyon County reached 285 last month, showing just a slight gain from the 279 posted in June, but still below the 346 filings posted in March.

Industry analysts said that the trend of increasing foreclosure filings is expected to continue the rest of this year and through 2010. They pointed out that the number of filings posted so far is just a tip of the iceberg, with more expected to swamp the housing market.

They cited the rising unemployment rate, scheduled resetting of adjustable-rate mortgages, declining property values and tighter credit as factors driving the foreclosure trend.

Recent market data showed that listings of distressed properties, including bank foreclosures and short sales, increased by almost 3.6 percent in the Treasure Valley area last month, for a total of 3,788 foreclosure properties.

Short sale deals rose by 1.5 percent in July compared with the previous month. Short sales mean lenders approved the sale of distressed properties by homeowners for less than the total amount they owed for a mortgage.

Data showed that short sale started at 1,540 this year and has since increased steadily every month, reaching 2,686 at the end of July.

Bank foreclosure listings in the area went down as low as 986 in May but rebounded the following two months, increasing by as much as 9.1 percent last month for a total of 1,103.

Meanwhile, the metropolitan area of Boise-Nampa posted 5,214 foreclosure filings, indicating that one out of every 46.5 households received notices of defaults, auctions or bank repossessions. The figures earned the metropolitan area the 32nd spot in terms of filings among 200 areas in the country with population of over 200,000.

Statewide, Idaho was ranked as one of the states in the country with the worst foreclosure rate last month. According to market data, one in every 479 properties has been foreclosed, earning the state the 10th spot in the foreclosure rate ranking.