Foreclosures in Los Angeles County jumped significantly in December, up 44 percent from November. But despite the month-over-month increase, the 2014 foreclosure rate countywide was down 18 percent from 2013, according to a report released Thursday.

One in every 1,212 homes in the county was in foreclosure in December, a figure down nearly 12 percent from the same month last year, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine real estate data firm.

It’s likely that the December increase was part of an annual trend that occurs as banks look to clear their inventory of distressed properties. “You have some of these spikes toward the end of the year. What we’re seeing is that as prices go up, banks can justify dealing with their hardest cases, the ones they wouldn’t push two years ago,” said Chris Pollinger, senior vice president of sales at First Team Real Estate, covering the Southern California market.

He predicted that foreclosures will dwindle this year as inland areas continue to see moderate price increases. That will enable homeowners to sell when they run into financial trouble, rather than falling into foreclosure.

Nationally, 2014 was the first year since 2006 that the annual foreclosure rate dropped below 1 percent of all housing units, with a total of 1.1 million properties with foreclosure filings during the year, according to the data.