One in every 409 U.S. homes faced foreclosure in January, according to the latest report by RealtyTrac.

The Irvine, Ca based research company says that foreclosure postings for the month were up 15 percent from a year ago.  In total, the firm says 315,716 properties faced foreclosure.

“January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago: a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10 percent drop in January,” James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s CEO, said in a statement. “If history repeats itself, we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs nor the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works.”

Nevada was at the head of the list for the 37th consecutive month, with one in every 95 homes in foreclosure.  Arizona, California, and Florida also faced high foreclosure rates.

“If history repeats itself, we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan-modification programs or the new short-sale and deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure alternatives works,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.