The bad news? Foreclosures nationwide increased by 53 percent last month from June 2007, according to a new report from RealtyTrac. In Minnesota, foreclosures increased by 75 percent over that same period. The good news for Minnesota? Despite 1,694 foreclosure flings last month, Minnesota foreclosures still only make up about 1 percent of all foreclosures. One in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month of June; in Minnesota, that number was one in every 1,348 households.

While this might sound like Minnesota is bucking the trend–or turning that elusive corner and entering a neighborhood not decimated by the foreclosure crisis–a look back at RealtyTrac reports suggests quite the contrary.

Not every notice of default or foreclosure filing results in foreclosure, but the share of them that do end in foreclosure is growing. Bank repossessions (as opposed to a foreclosure sale or trustee sale) continue to rise in Minnesota. In February of 2007, for example, bank repossessions made up 140 of the 2,226 foreclosure filings, or about 6 percent. By February of this year, they accounted for 24 percent of filings (350 of 1,433). And by June of this year, bank repossessions accounted for 44 percent (742 of 1,694) of the total.

This means that a lower proportion of homeowners is managing to avoid final foreclosure proceedings by modifying their loan terms or selling their home outright. Instead, more and more foreclosure notices in Minnesota are resulting in lender repossessions, a sign that the foreclosure crisis is far from over and that fewer Minnesotans than ever are finding solutions to their foreclosure problems.