The real estate foreclosures in metro Atlanta have soared high by 27 percent in the month of February.

Going by the data recently released by Equity Depot, the foreclosures have risen by a huge 34 percent as compared to the same time period last year. The data pointed out that while the foreclosure notices published this year were 10,357 in number, their number was merely 8,181 a month ago and 7,701 a year before. The low rate of real estate foreclosures in the 13 county Atlanta metropolitan area, for the month of January, has been attributed to a moratorium on foreclosing which a few lenders had in place during the holiday season.

It must be noted that these foreclosures are meant for the public auctions to be held in the month of March.

"Commercial properties are clearly on the rise", stated Barry Bramlett, President of an Alpharetta based equity depot in an e-mail. The top five companies which emerged as the rulers of the foreclosure arena this month are Gwinnett with 2,163 notices, Fulton (2,008), DeKalb (1,511), Cobb (1,243) and Clayton (821) respectively. This sudden rise in the real estate foreclosures has come as a big surprise for many.