NEW YORK - January 13, 2011 - The number of U.S. homes receiving a foreclosure filing will climb about 20% in 2011, reaching a peak for the housing crisis, as unemployment remains high and banks resume seizures after a slowdown, according to RealtyTrac, Inc..

“We will peak in foreclosures and probably bottom out in pricing, and that’s what we need to do in order to begin (a) recovery,” Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s senior vice president, said in an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “But it’s probably not going to feel good in the process.”

A record 2.87 million properties got notices of default, auction or repossession in 2010, a 2% increase from a year earlier, the Irvine, Kalifornia data seller said today in a report. The number climbed even after a plunge in filings in the last part of the year, including a 26% drop in December, as lenders came under scrutiny for their practices.

Foreclosures continue to weigh down U.S. housing prices while the nation’s unemployment rate remains stuck at more than 9%. Home values may rise 0.6% for the year, the first annual jump since 2006, according to Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage buyer. They have fallen as much as 33% since peaking in 2006, based on the S&P/Case-Shiller Index of 20 cities.

Banks seized more than 1 million homes in 2010, according to RealtyTrac. That was up 14% from a year earlier and the most since the company began reports in 2005.