244 foreclosures in Carson City in 2010

Carson City had 244 foreclosures in 2010, a

7.5 percent increase from 2009, according to the city assessor's office.

Meanwhile, Assessor Dave Dawley said property values in Carson City have dropped by about $200 million for the next fiscal year.

"The more foreclosures mean more impact on the local market," he said.

And experts say the worst is yet to come.

"2011 is going to be the peak," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac Inc. The firm predicts 1.2 million U.S. homes will be repossessed this year.

The blistering pace of foreclosures this year will top 2010, when a record

1 million homes were lost, RealtyTrac said Thursday.

One in every 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, a record 2.9 million of them. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009.

In Carson City, Tom Lee, the broker of Better Homes and Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate, said he's expecting more short sales in 2011 instead of foreclosures.

"The majority of the sold properties were bank owned a year ago and now the majority of them are short sales," Lee said. "It's still going to be a challenge, but there's good news there."

And while prices have fallen by about half since the peak of the housing market, Lee said that has meant younger people are now able to afford a home.

"A few years ago it was untenable," he said. "The price points were so high, most of the average working people couldn't afford it."

• The Associated Press contributed to this report.