Home foreclosures are rising at a record pace, with all area counties save one on track to surpass last year's totals.

According to data collected by area clerks of court, 367 property foreclosures had been filed as of June 30 \— just 140 fewer than the total for all of 2007. With the subprime mortgage market in collapse and little change expected in the economy for the foreseeable future, the number of foreclosures in the five-county area is projected to hit 700 by year's end.

"Absolutely it's as bad as I've ever seen it," said Pasquotank County Clerk of Superior Court Lynne Pike, who has worked in the clerk's office the past 42 years. "It's a buyer's market right now."

Pike said she's handling an average of six to 10 foreclosure filings a week, primarily from homeowners defaulting on a subprime mortgage loan or, increasingly, on an unpaid home equity loan. That's almost two a day, twice the number three and four years ago when real estate was a seller's market and bidding wars for properties was commonplace, Pike said.

In just one week last month alone, 19 foreclosures were filed in Pasquotank, most involving homes in Elizabeth City, Pike said. Of that number, 11 ended in foreclosure sales, with each property being purchased by the lender at a lower-market value, she said.

Overall, Pike's office has handled 136 foreclosure filings this year, just 27 fewer than all of last year. At the current pace, 272 foreclosures could be filed in the county this year \— an increase of 67 percent.

Circumstances are pretty much the same in other counties, local court clerks say.

Camden Clerk of Superior Court Ann Spivey said foreclosure filings have tripled from two years ago. Before last year, Spivey's office typically processed only a few foreclosures a month. In 2006, for example, there were only 29 foreclosure filings.

Last year, however, the Camden Clerk of Court's Office processed 45 foreclosure filings, and is on pace to surpass that number this year. As of June 30, Spivey's office had processed 25 foreclosure filings.

As in Pasquotank, foreclosure filings in Camden are no longer sporadic.

"We've had four in a day," Spivey said. "That's unusual for Camden."

The uptick in foreclosures locally mirrors what's happening both state and nationally. In North Carolina, there were more than 3,800 foreclosure filings in May alone, up nearly 24 percent from May 2007. Nationwide, foreclosures in June increased 53 percent from June 2007.

Sharon Waff is the deputy clerk in charge of foreclosures in the Chowan County Clerk of Court's office, has seen a noticeable increase in property foreclosures this year. Many appear to have been precipitated by either a job or health crisis, she said.

"Usually it's because of work," Waff said. "(Either) they're laid off, or self-employed and didn't have income. Others (end up in foreclosure) for health reasons."

Josie Twiford, who holds the same job in the Currituck County Clerk of Court's office, said foreclosures are up sharply in the county for the year, but have leveled off in the past couple weeks.

"As far as (foreclosure) sales go, we had about three to four this week," she said. "In June, I was booked up with two to three foreclosure hearings a day. We had maybe 15 sales in June."

She said about half the foreclosures involve property owners who bought second homes on the Outer Banks. The other half involve landowners on the mainland.

Like Waff, Twiford says a number of those having their homes foreclosed on have encountered some type of health or other personal crisis.

"Sometimes it's hardships, maybe one spouse became ill or had a recent operation, they fall behind, and weren't able to catch up," Twiford said.

Perquimans County Clerk Todd Tilley said he's also noticed a slight slowdown in foreclosures in the past couple of weeks.

"Probably six weeks ago we were averaging one or two a week. Now it's about one a week," Tilley said. "A lot (of foreclosure cases) have been settled before (going) to a sale."

In fact, Perquimans is on pace to record fewer foreclosures this year than last. After 36 filings last year, only 17 had been filed as of June 30. The county is on pace for 34 this year.

Because of the widening foreclosure crisis, Pike said mortgage lenders do seem more willing to work out arrangements with homeowners in default. At the same time, homeowners are doing whatever they can to save their property.

That is helping to stave off many foreclosure sales, Pike said.

But that still appears to be more the exception than the rule, she said. Most foreclosure filings still end up in sales of the property back to the lender for what's owed. Pike said many of the foreclosures are tragic because they involve young couples who under normal circumstances wouldn't have been able to afford a new home. It was only because of low or delayed variable interest rates promised by lenders that they were able to buy a home. Now that those variable rates have soared in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, many of those couples are seeing their monthly payments increase beyond what they can afford, she said.

"When the market was so hot, borrowing was so easy," Pike said. "They were close to getting the American dream and then got it. ... It's sad when you have families through no fault of their own, through bad circumstances, lose their home. It's just heart-wrenching."

Spivey agreed that foreclosures are in many cases human tragedies.

"A lot of people I see at foreclosures (hearings) are good people," Spivey said. "They just overextended themselves or sickness or bad health came their way. It's sad economic times, a very sad picture."

The court clerks say it's hard to say when the number of foreclosures will resume to normal levels. Pike said it could be by next year.

"We've been in a recession for a long time, in my opinion."