A flurry of foreclosure filings in Pinellas County in March worsened the mortgage failure rate in the Tampa Bay area.

While foreclosures were mostly flat in Hillsborough and Pasco counties from February to March, Pinellas reported a 66.6 percent rise in foreclosure activity, according to the real estate firm RealtyTrac.

It’s unclear whether this represented a deepening housing crisis in Pinellas or whether banks unloaded a backlog of cases held up by Gov. Charlie Crist’s foreclosure moratorium in January.

In the region as a whole, RealtyTrac counted 6,926 foreclosure filings in March, up from 5,828 in February. The Tampa Bay area’s foreclosure rate, 1 out of every 190 households, was 23rd worse in the nation. Florida counted 47,131 foreclosure filings in March, making it the fourth-worst-hit state.

The year-over-year change in the region was even worse. Foreclosures rose 80 percent from the 3,837 cases reported in March 2008.

As always, here's a chart from RealtyTrac: Download Realtytracmarch09.

I've opined here before that I think we're due for another surge in foreclosures this summer before things get better toward the end of the year. Hope I'm wrong about the summer surge, but our high unemployment suggests more people will default on their mortgages.