With the continued turmoil in the housing market, it comes as no surprise that foreclosures hit a new record high in 2009. According to RealtyTrac’s year-end market report, 3,957,643 foreclosure filings – including default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions, and bank repossessions – were reported on 2,824,674 U.S. properties last year.

That’s a 21 percent increase in the number of properties in some stage of foreclosure compared to 2008 and a 120 percent increase over 2007. The report also shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S. housing units – or one in 45 – received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007, and just 0.58 percent in 2006.

Even more troubling is that the numbers would be even higher had it not been for lenders delaying foreclosures to satisfy new state laws and implement the administration’s federal modification program. RealtyTrac says this backlog still hangs over the housing market and could keep foreclosure statistics elevated through the duration of the new year.

“In the long term a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, “and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond.”

Foreclosure filings were reported on 349,519 U.S. properties in December alone, a 14 percent jump from the previous month and a 15 percent increase from December 2008. The increase in December follows four straight months of declines in the foreclosure numbers.

All the usual suspects sat at the top of the foreclosure list for 2009. More than 10 percent of Nevada housing units received at least one foreclosure filing during the 12-month period, giving it the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the third consecutive year.

Arizona registered the second highest state foreclosure rate in 2009, with more than 6 percent of its housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing. Florida came in at No. 3, with 5.93 percent of homes in the state being issued a foreclosure filing during the year. California posted the fourth highest foreclosure at, at 4.75 percent.

Rounding out RealtyTrac’s list of the 10 highest foreclosure rates in 2009 were Utah (2.93 percent), Idaho (2.72 percent), Georgia (2.68 percent), Michigan (2.61 percent), Illinois (2.50 percent), and Colorado (2.37 percent).

Four states accounted for more than 50 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure filings last year, with more than 1.4 million properties receiving a foreclosure filing in California,Florida, Arizona and Illinois combined.