February foreclosure surge lifts Maryland to ninth-highest rate

Maryland's foreclosure activity in February increased on a year-over-year basis for the eighth straight month, propelling the state to a top-10 national foreclosure rate for the first time since July 2010.

Foreclosure starts in Maryland spiked 83.4 percent from January to February, and a whopping 318.8 percent from February 2012, according to a report by Irvine, Calif.-based market research firm RealtyTrac Inc. One out of every 720 Maryland housing units was in foreclosure in February, the ninth-highest…