Foreclosure activity in the U.S. surprisingly increased in February, rising nearly 30% from a year ago, amidst the foreclosure moratorium implemented by many lenders as reported by RealtyTrac last Thursday.

Nationwide, foreclosure rose 6 percent last month compared to February where 290,631 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month.

While foreclosures are highly concentrated in the Western states and Florida, where Nevada, Arizona and California occupy the top three states, the problem has spread to other states like Idaho, Illinois and Oregon.In  Nevada, there was a 9 percent increase compared to January and a 156 percent rise compared to the same month last year, with one in every 70 homes receiving a foreclosure filing last month. Meanwhile, among states, California led the nation with the highest foreclosure totals at 80,775 in February, the most of any state, followed by Florida and Arizona.

Nevada, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Georgia and Virginia also reported foreclosure totals that were among the nation's 10 highest. In the RealtyTrac report, there were more than 74,000 properties repossessed by lenders in February as the worst recession in decades, falling home values and stricter lending standards continue to sap the U.S. real estate market.

"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," said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

Among metro areas, RealtyTrac report showed that the Sunbelt cities occupy the top with one in every 60 Las Vegas homes receiving a foreclosure filing giving the city the nation’s highest foreclosure rate among metro areas. Las Vegas’ foreclosure rate was 7 times higher than the national average.

It was followed by Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida and five California metropolitan areas particularly Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Riverside-San Bernardino and Bakersfield.