A nearly 25 percent increase in foreclosures last year, combined with slowing sales, softer home prices and higher mortgage rates reveal a housing market in the throes of change away from favoring sellers.

Foreclosure monitor RealtyTrac said the number of foreclosures nationwide was up 24.5 percent from the first quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter.

"Over the past few years, we've seen historically low mortgage rates, consistently escalating home prices and steady, strong employment," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

"This has translated into relatively low levels of foreclosure properties -- particularly bank-owned properties. With interest rates rising and an apparent slowing of property valuations in most markets, we'll be watching closely to see if there's a material effect on the number of foreclosures in 2006," he added.

Along with higher foreclosures, existing-home sales set an annual record, but declined in December falling 3.1 percent compared to December 2004, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $211,000 in December, up 10.5 percent from December 2004, but down from November's $215,000 median, NAR also reported.

And the average of fixed mortgage rates for conforming 30-year mortgages rose for the fourth consecutive week to an average 6.24 percent by Feb. 9, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago the average was 5.57 percent.

Hardest hit by rising foreclosure rates during 2005 were Massachusetts, up nearly 200 percent; Connecticut, up 188 percent; Michigan up 170 percent; Virginia up 151 percent and Maryland, up 117 percent.

RealtyTrac's report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: pre-foreclosures, Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); foreclosures, Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and real estate owned, or REO properties (those that have been re-purchased by a bank).

It's not just the percentages. Numbers are growing too and that's statistically significant.

Nationwide, the number of foreclosures during the first quarter were 188,122. By the final quarter that number had risen to 234,278. In Massachusetts, the foreclosures jumped from 616 to 1,843; Connecticut, 1,456 to 4,202; Michigan, 4,411 to 11,937; Virginia, 380 to 956 and Maryland, 667 to 1,448.

Washington, D.C.'s foreclosures rose fastest, 300 percent, but the numbers remain relatively low, 10 foreclosures during the first quarter compared to only 155 during the fourth quarter.

Still, for some regions, the trend is obvious.

"Overall, U.S. foreclosure numbers climbed steadily over the course of the year, with more new foreclosures reported in every quarter," said Saccacio. "This trend appears to be moving the real estate foreclosure market back to its historic levels."

The percentage of foreclosure increases don't tell the whole story.

Florida experienced a 29 percent decrease in new foreclosures from the first quarter to the fourth quarter, but accounted for more than 14 percent of the nation's new foreclosures in 2005. Foreclosures in the Sunshine State represented 1.67 percent of the state's households, RealtyTrac reported.

"Even with almost 850,000 properties entering some stage of foreclosure across the country over the course of the year, this represents less than 1 percent of all U.S. households," Saccacio said.

Likewise, No. 2 Colorado saw foreclosure decreasing 4 percent during the survey period, but the 29,630 foreclosures in 2005 represent 1.62 percent of the state's households.

Utah was third with 1.5 percent of that state's households entering foreclosure in 2005.

Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Tennessee also revealed foreclosure rates of at least 1 percent of total households.

Published: February 16, 2006

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.