The number of U.S. households on the brink of losing their homes increased 7 percent from June to July, despite government programs to avoid foreclosures or limit its damage.

Foreclosure filings were up 32 percent from a year earlier to more than 360,000 household s or one in every 355 households with a loan got a foreclosure filing, RealtyTrac Inc. an Irvine, California-based real estate listing company said Thursday. Foreclosure filings include notices of default, auction and bank repossession.

On a monthly basis, that was the highest level since January 2005, the time foreclosure listing firm started tracking monthly foreclosure activity.

"July marks the third time in the last five months where we've seen a new record set for foreclosure activity," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive, said in a statement.

Banks repossessions increased to more than 87,000 homes in July from about 79,000 homes in June. Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate for the 31st-straight month, followed by California, Arizona and Florida accounting for more than 57 percent of the total US foreclosure activity in July.

Rounding out the top 10 were Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon. Among cities, Las Vegas had the highest rate, followed by the California cities of Stockton and Modesto.

More than half a million homes were repossessed as nearly 2.3 million households have received a foreclosure filing in the first seven moths of the year with more than half a million bank repossessions.

"Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we're seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions."