Foreclosure filings — including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 303,879 U.S. properties during August, a 12 percent increase from the previous month and a 27 percent increase from August 2007, according to a report released Friday.

The Stockton metro area led the nation in filing rate with Vallejo-Fairfield ranked No. 4 out of 230 metro areas studied.

The report from Irvine-based RealtyTrac also shows that one in every 416 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

California continued to document the nation’s second-highest state foreclosure rate with one in every 130 households receiving a foreclosure filing in August for a total of 101,724 filings (the nation’s highest total), up 76 percent from August 2007 and up more than 40 percent from July 2008.

California cities accounted for eight of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates out of the 230 metro areas tracked in the August report. Stockton was No. 1, with one in every 50 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, followed by Merced, Modesto, Vallejo-Fairfield and Riverside-San Bernardino in the No. 2 to No. 5 spots. Other California cities in the top 10 were Bakersfield, Salinas-Monterey and Sacramento in the No. 8 to No. 10 spots.

Florida posted the second-highest total in August, with foreclosure filings reported on 44,000 properties during the month — a 4 percent decrease from the previous month but still up nearly 30 percent from August 2007. One in every 194 Florida properties received a foreclosure filing in August, the nation’s fourth-highest state foreclosure rate.

California, Florida and Arizona together accounted for more than half of the nation’s foreclosure activity.