SAN FRANCISCO (Bloomberg) - US home foreclosures almost doubled in October from a year earlier as sub-prime borrowers struggled to make higher payments on their adjustable-rate mortgages, according to data compiled by RealtyTrac Inc.

There were 224,451 foreclosure filings, including default notices, auction notices and bank repossessions, a 94 percent jump from October 2006 and a two percent increase from the previous month, RealtyTrac reported yesterday.

California had the most filings with 50,401 and Florida was second with 30,190. Nevada had the highest rate, one for every 154 households, more than triple the national average.

Bank repossessions increased 35 percent, providing "evidence that more homeowners who enter foreclosure are losing their homes," James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

The Irvine, California-based seller of foreclosure data has a database of more than one million US properties.

Foreclosures are adding to an 11-month supply of unsold homes, the highest in more than eight years, in the worst US housing slump in 16 years. The declines in home sales and prices have raised concerns consumer spending may drop and push the world's biggest economy into recession.

Defaults on mortgages to borrowers with poor credit history have forced the world's biggest banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., to record losses of more than $45 billion on collateralised debt obligations.

Existing home sales fell to the lowest annual rate since 1999, the National Association of Realtors in Chicago reported on Wednesday.

About one million adjustable-rate loans to subprime borrowers, people with weak or spotty credit histories, will reset to higher rates next year and could lead to more foreclosures, RealtyTrac said.

October's foreclosures total was almost nine percent less than August's peak, Mr. Saccacio said. Efforts by homeowners, lenders and advocacy groups to find alternatives to foreclosures "may be starting to have an impact," he said.

Inland California cities had six of the top 10 foreclosure rates among US metro areas, RealtyTrac said. Merced in the state's Central Valley had the highest, with one filing for every 82 households, almost seven times the national average. Stockton and Modesto ranked second and third, respectively, and Riverside-San Bernardino and Vallejo-Fairfield were sixth and seventh. Sacramento ranked ninth.

Las Vegas had the fourth-highest rate, one filing for every 120 households, and Detroit was fifth with one for every 131 households. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida ranked eighth and Cleveland was 10th.

The national foreclosure rate was one for every 555 households.

Following California and Florida, Ohio had the third most filings with 17,276. Michigan was fourth with 13,415 and Texas was fifth with 12,288. Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New York and Arizona were also in the top 10.