Even with the large increase, Utah still compares favorably with other states. Nationally, more than 234,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 538 U.S. households, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data.

In Utah, 1,230 homes are in some stage of foreclosure, or one in every 733 households. Nevada, which weighed in at one foreclosure for every 139 households, California (one in 204 households) and Florida (one in 282 households) had the three highest rates. Utah was ranked No. 17.

A major problem nationally is the scores of adjustable-rate mortgages taken out in recent years that only now are resetting at higher rates, pushing monthly payments higher. More than $460 billion in adjustable-rate loans are scheduled to reset this year, according to analysts at Citigroup Inc.

''We're not near the bottom of this at all,'' said Kenneth Rosen, chairman of Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC, a hedge fund in Berkeley, Calif., and chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the University of California at Berkeley. ''The foreclosure process will accelerate throughout the year.''

Rising foreclosures will add more homes to an already glutted market, keep prices down through at least next year and challenge efforts by Congress and President Bush to help homeowners avoid default, Rosen said.

More than 2.5 million foreclosed properties will be on the market this year and in 2009, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. analysts led by Michelle Meyer said in an April 10 report. U.S. home price declines will probably double to a national average of 20 percent by next year, with lower values most likely in metropolitan areas in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada, mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. said last week in a report.