Posted by Whitney Coleman at 3:35 p.m. Thursday

Pierce County had the third-highest rate of foreclosures in the state compared with other counties in March – an improvement after coming in first as the county with the most foreclosures during all of 2008.

According to information released Wednesday by RealtyTrac, one in every 320 housing units in Pierce County was in some phase of foreclosure in March.

The California-based company tracks foreclosure-related filings including notices of default, notices of trustee sales and REO properties, which have been foreclosed on and are now owned by a bank.

The number of Pierce County homes facing foreclosure this March was 92 percent more than in the same month last year and 42 percent more than in February.

Clark County had the highest foreclosure rate in the state for March at one in 122 homes.

Filings for the first quarter of 2009 were also released, showing Pierce County’s foreclosure numbers to be worse than the nationwide rate of one in 159. The county had the second highest number of foreclosures in the state for the quarter, at one in 138 housing units, though the number shows 18 percent fewer foreclosures than in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Nationally, the number of U.S. households threatened with losing their homes in the first quarter or 2009 grew 24 percent over last year.