By ANDREW JEFFERY

This post first appeared on Minyanville.

Despite herculean efforts to stop the foreclosure juggernaut, Americans are still losing their homes at near-record pace.

According to RealtyTrac, a firm that sells default data, foreclosure filings rose in February to nearly 300,000, up 6% from the month before. This figure is the third highest for any month since the housing market turned south in 2005.

As property values fall, more borrowers are finding themselves underwater – owing more on their homes than they’re worth. This, coupled with job losses, means homeowners are missing payments at an alarming pace.

Sky-high foreclosures are even more astounding when myriad loan-modification efforts and short-term foreclosure moratoriums enacted by big lenders like Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE), JPMorgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) have been taken into account.

And while President Obama’s hotly debated $275 billion housing-relief package is barely a month old, its becoming clear that no cleverly worded press release or inspiring oratory can reverse the trend that’s firmly in place: Housing supply remains elevated, with buyers sitting on the sidelines awaiting better deals. Prices, as a result, will keep falling for the foreseeable future.

In fact, Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, told Bloomberg he believes the country’s biggest lenders have yet to list over 700,000 bank-owned homes.

This “phantom supply,” as its known in the real-estate world, paints a bleak picture for the housing market in the near term. Even though strong sales activity in distressed markets is pushing aggregate inventory data back towards historical norms, phantom supply is patiently waiting to punish those bold enough to prematurely call a bottom.

Further, well-to-do areas, formerly immune from home price declines, are starting to follow their more bubbly counterparts over the proverbial cliff. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, 15 homes had sold for over $5 million by this time last year. This year: Just one.

Many of the most distressed markets are in their last gap of depreciation. And while material appreciation is simply fantasy, high-end markets will pick up where they left off and keep broad measures of property values under pressure.

But as this dynamic plays out — and the depreciation torch is passed from the “subprime” people to those who are “prime” — opportunities will emerge in markets that stabilize first. Just as housing prices overshot to the upside, they will likewise overshoot to the downside.

The opportunities are currently few and far between. But with each day that passes, the world of possibilities grows, if only ever so slightly.

Click here for details on this House of the Day.

Value: $350,000
Projection: Depreciating

The subject property is located in Orange County, which is experiencing a slump in the local economy due to the collapse of the mortgage market. In addition, the subject should expect to see further declines in value because it has only one bathroom.

You will notice we often mention property’s with only one bathroom negatively. In a market flush with supply of homes, prospective buyers will be much more attracted to homes with more than one bathroom. Thus, we believe one bathrooms homes are at an extreme disadvantage and must be priced much more aggressively to sell. From our research, this fact is overlooked by most brokers and as a result one bathroom homes are typically over listed.

10301 MacDuff St, a superior home, sold for $370,000 in April. Due to the fact that the property has only one bathroom, coupled with the weak economy and rising fuel prices, we don’t see strong demand for this type of property. Most listings in the area are substantially higher than our subject’s estimated value, and we expect those homes to sell below the listing price.

We value the subject property at $350,000 and expect it to see declines in the coming months.

Click here for details on this House of the Day

Value: $120,000
Projection: Depreciating

Stockton is arguably the most publicized declining real estate market in the United States. Foreclosure and REO (Real Estate Owner, or Bank Owned) activity is very high, and values have declined precipitously in the past 12 months. The subject’s neighborhood itself is aging, with many new developments in the vicinity providing an alternative to these older homes.

The subject property has not been immune to these declines and is further hampered by its location on a major four-lane street on the Northeast side of the city. This section of the city is dominated by 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom properties, compared to the property’s 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths.

1901 Bradford Ave sold in January for $105,000, but is inferior to the subject based on its smaller lot and one fewer bedrooms. 1220 Sycamore St sold in April for $150,000 but is superior to the subject based on location and curb appeal.

1240 Wilson St is currently listed at $109,900 but is inferior to the subject based on its larger lot size.

The subject has bars and windows on its doors, reducing curb appeal and forcing us to be more conservative than normal. We value the property at $120,000 to reflect a middle ground between the two sales listed above, erring on the side of caution.