Foreclosures continued their upward trek last month, hitting a record-setting 342,000, CNN Money reported.

According to a report released today by RealtyTrac Inc., an online marketer of foreclosed properties, one out of every 374 homes in the United States received a foreclosure filing last month. This makes April’s foreclosure rate the highest the company has ever reported.

“April was a shocker,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac spokesman. “I would have bet on a dip because March foreclosures were so high.”

April filings were up 1 percent from March and were 32 percent higher than in April 2008.

There were 63,900 bank repossessions in April, which mark the final step in home foreclosure. More than 1.3 million homes have been lost to foreclosure since August 2007.

But despite the staggering number of repossessions, April’s figure was actually 11 percent lower than March’s, RealtyTrac said.

James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said he believes home repossessions will increase in the coming months. “It’s likely that we’ll see a corresponding spike in (repossessed properties) as these loans move through the foreclosure process over the next few months,” he said in a statement.

Ten states accounted for 75 percent of home foreclosures, with Nevada reporting the highest foreclosure rate: one filing for every 68 households.

Retail sales decline for second straight month

Retailers reported decreased sales for the second month in a row in April, CNNMoney reported.

According to the Commerce Department, total retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, following March’s revised decline of 1.3 percent. Economists surveyed by briefing.com had expected retail sales to remain unchanged and were surprised by the decline.

“This is a disappointing report,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist with High Frequency Economics, said in a report.

When excluding automobiles and auto parts, retail sales fell 0.5 percent, compared with a decline of 0.9 percent in March. Economists had forecast April sales, excluding auto purchases, to increase 0.2 percent.

“The downward revisions to March make the story even more troubling,” said Michael Niemira, chief economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

According to the report, sales of electronics declined 2.8 percent in April, clothing sales decreased 0.5 percent and furniture sales fell 0.5 percent. Sales at general merchandise stores decreased 0.1 percent.

Conversely, building materials purchases increased 0.3 percent and sales at auto parts and vehicle dealers increased 0.2 percent.

“The categories that I had expected to be weak, like cars and building materials, were up, and categories that I thought would increase, such as general merchandise sales, were down,” Niemira said. “So these results were really mixed against my own expectations.”