Foreclosure filings nationwide for the first half of 2018 dropped 15 percent from the same period last year. But, counter to the national trend, a handful of U.S. cities posted an increase in foreclosures in the first six months, Phoenix among them.

Foreclosure increases in certain metropolitan areas can no longer be blamed on distress left over from the last housing bubble, according to Daren Blomquist of Phoenix-based ATTOM Data Solutions. In new findings published Thursday, he says. Nearly half of all active foreclosures are now tied to loans originated in 2009 or later.

A total of 191,914 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2018, down 8 percent from the first half of 2017 and down 82 percent from a peak of 1,074,471 in the first half of 2009.

Counter to the national trend, 22 states posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in the first half of 2018, including Texas (up 11 percent); Michigan (up 5 percent); Arizona (up 1 percent); Indiana (up 51 percent); and Tennessee (up 13 percent).

Of the 219 metropolitan areas analyzed, only 26 showed an increase in foreclosure rates over the last six months. Houston and Dallas are up 10 and 11 percent respectively. Phoenix is up 5 percent. Cleveland is up 4 percent.

Blomquist says recent foreclosures are a reflection of more recent distress triggers in the market.