U.S. foreclosures up 5 percent in October

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. foreclosures increased 5 percent in October compared with a month ago, a private research group said Thursday.

During October, 279,561 U.S. properties were in some stage of foreclosure, including bank repossessions, notices of default and auction sales notices, RealtyTrac said.

The figure is a 25 percent increase from October 2007 and shows that one in every 452 U.S. homes were in some stage of foreclosure in the month, RealtyTrac said.

"We've seen sharp declines in new foreclosure filings after legislation mandating delays to the foreclosure process was signed into law in several states, most notably in California, where overall foreclosure activity was down by double-digit percentage points for the second straight month in October," RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio said in a statement.

"Despite this, October marks the 34th consecutive month where U.S. foreclosure activity has increased compared to the prior year," he said.