Raleigh, N.C. — Home foreclosures increased nearly 40 percent in North Carolina last month compared to a year ago, according to new data from foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Foreclosures were also up 13 percent from September, according to the California-based company.

More than 4,800 properties were involved in some sort of foreclosure-related action.

The North Carolina data is counter to that of the nationwide trend, which declined 4 percent from September and was nearly identical to statistics from October 2009.

“October marks the 20th consecutive month where over 300,000 U.S. homeowners received a foreclosure notice,” said RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio. “The numbers probably would have been higher except for the fallout from the recent ‘robo-signing’ controversy – which is the most likely reason for the 9 percent monthly drop in [foreclosures] we saw from September to October and which may result in further decreases in November.”

The robo-signing controversy erupted when several banks acknowledged problems in the handling of foreclosure documents.

The RealtyTrac report comes on the heels of news earlier this week from the N.C. Justice Center which projected that foreclosures in the state would set a record this year.

Specific categories of foreclosure activity in October as reported by RealtyTrac:

• Notices of default: 624
• Notice of trustee sale: 2,615
• Real estate owned or properties that have been foreclosed and repurchased by a bank: 1,579
• Total: 4,818

The N.C. Justice Center, an advocacy group for low- and moderate-income N.C. residents, estimates that nearly 75,000 foreclosure filings will be made by year’s end. The record of 63,286 was set last year.

Filings are projected to top the previous record as of Nov. 23.