A jump in the number of January foreclosure auctions moved Illinois up one place to rank as having the third highest foreclosures activity in the country, RealtyTrac said today in its monthly data report on distressed properties.

Between December and January, the number of foreclosure filings in Illinois increased 22.6 percent - that basically equates to one out of every 375 homes in Illinois. Compared to the same time last year, the number of filings decreased 1.8 percent.

Nationally, foreclosures are down 28 percent from the year before.

Illinois is preceded only by Florida and California for foreclosure activity. A change in California law commonly called the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights drastically impacted foreclosure filings there, RealtyTrac said.

“For the first time since January 2007 California did not have the most properties with foreclosure filings of any state,” RealtyTrac’s Darem Blomquist said in the report. “Instead that dubious distinction went to Florida, where January foreclosure activity increased on an annual basis for the 11th time in the last 13 months.”

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