According to the Baltimore Sun, Maryland had the fifth-highest rate of new foreclosure cases in the nation during the summer, increasing from the spring even as many other states improved.

It's not a new problem. The mortgage bankers' trade group said the effects of the mortgage crisis, which hit about six years ago, are lingering longer in Maryland and other states that require at least some court involvement before foreclosure auction is permitted. That "tends to slow things up," said the group's chief economist, Jay Brinkmann.

"If you look at two states like Maryland and Virginia, right next to each other, affected by many of the same economic circumstances, Maryland's path through this crisis has been very different," said Michael Fratantoni, the association's vice president for single family research.