Washington - The number of US households in some stage of foreclosure rose nearly 30 per cent in February from a year earlier despite government efforts aimed at keeping people in their homes, according to data released Thursday.

Foreclosures rose 6 per cent from January with 290,631 properties - one in every 440 homes - having received notice from their banks or being in some stage of the foreclosure process in February, industry tracker RealtyTrac said in a monthly report.

"The increase in foreclosure activity from January to February is somewhat surprising, given that many of the foreclosure prevention efforts and moratoria in place in January were extended through most of February as well," James J Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

Several states had attempted to stem the flood of foreclosures with temporary stops on filings, but the moratorium expired in Florida, leading to a 14 per cent increase there from the previous month.

California topped the list of the most foreclosures, increasing 5 per cent month-on-month to 80,775, followed by Florida and Arizona. The largest percentage of homes in foreclosure was in Nevada, where one in every 70 homes were affected.