Home foreclosures climb in October

After a slight drop in September, home foreclosures shot back up in Minnesota last month.

Mortgage defaults were up 24 percent in October - and up 61 percent over October of 2007.

Darren Bloomquist, of mortgage tracking firm, RealtyTrac, said the numbers might have been higher, if not for federal legislation aimed at helping homeowners hold off foreclosure.

"It's still a big question to us whether this is really a short-term impact where some of these foreclosures were just being deferred for some time or if it's really helping a lot of homeowners in the long-term to avoid foreclosure," Bloomquist said.

Blomquist said Minnesota is still slightly below the national foreclosure rate. The state's highest October rate was in Hennepin County, followed by Scott, Faribault, Wright and Goodhue counties.