The rich and famous now have something in common with hundreds of thousands of middle and lower-class Americans: The bank is about to take their homes.

Houses with loans of $5 million or more will likely see a sharp rise in foreclosures this year, according to a RealtyTrac study for The Wall Street Journal.

Just this week, a Tudor mansion in Bel-Air belonging to film star Nicolas Cage was in foreclosure auction and reverted to the lender. On Wednesday, Richard Fuscone, a former top Wall Street executive, declared personal bankruptcy, forestalling a foreclosure auction that had been scheduled this week on his 14-acre Westchester mansion. Last month a Manhattan condominium owned by Italian film producer Vittorio Cecchi Gori was sold in a foreclosure auction for $33.2 million.

In February alone, 352 homes nationwide in this category were scheduled for foreclosure auction, the final step before a bank acquisition. That is the largest monthly number of these so-called notices of sale since the financialcrisis began. By comparison, in all of 2009, there were 1,312 such notices.

Economists say the super-wealthy are among the last to lose their homes in a mortgagecrisis because they usually have high savings, better access to credit and other means for staving off foreclosure. But many of them work in financial services and other industries hit especially hard by the crisis, and have seen their wealthshrink in the market crash.

While the numbers are modest compared with foreclosures at other income levels, they suggest the possibility of a sudden spike in bank takeovers of the wealthiest Americans' property. Typically half the notices of sale result in homes being turned over to creditors, though the figure could be slightly lower for the richest Americans who have more financial options, according to Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac.

Big borrowers are more likely to default than ordinary people, according to data from First American CoreLogic. Its loan database, reflecting more than 80% of the overall home-loan market, includes 1,700 loans with balances of $4 million or more. About 14.8% of those loans were 90 days or more overdue at the end of January, compared with 8.7% for all home loans tracked by First American. Sam Khater, a senioreconomist at First American, said the bigger borrowers may be more prone to stop making payments when they have lost all their home equity.

Mr. Fuscone, Merrill Lynch's one-time head of Latin America, put his mansion up for sale in November, asking $13.9 million. But he couldn't find a buyer.

The court had scheduled a foreclosure auction for Thursday for the 18,471-square-foot mansion-with two swimming pools, two elevators, six fireplaces, 11 bathrooms and a seven-car garage. The personal bankruptcy filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Wednesday temporarily freezes the foreclosure process.

Reached by phone, Mr. Fuscone declined to comment. Brokers and real estate tracking companies say that his home is one of the most expensive properties to face foreclosure proceedings yet.

The phenomenon is not limited to the New York area. Banks have taken over homes with loans of $5 million or more in Georgia, North Carolina and Colorado, RealtyTrac says.

Mr. Cage had tried to sell his 11,817-square-foot Bel-Air property for $35 million but failed to get any offers, said James Chalke, a real-estate agent who had the listing. At a foreclosure sale Wednesday, the property attracted no bids from investors and so was acquired by the foreclosing lender. Annett Wolf, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cage, said he had no comment.

A representative of Mr. Checchi Gori, producer of more than 200 films, including 'Il Postino' and 'Life is Beautiful,' said his financial situation is improving.

Craig Karmin / James R. Hagerty

• wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中词汇)
• executive [ig´zekjutiv] a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中词汇)
• italian [i´tæliən] a.意大利 n.意大利人 (初中词汇)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中词汇)
• comparison [kəm´pærisən] n.比较；对照；比喻 (初中词汇)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中词汇)
• modest [´mɔdist] a.谦虚的；朴素的 (初中词汇)
• income [´inkʌm] n.收入，所得 (初中词汇)
• possibility [,pɔsə´biliti] n.可能(性)；希望；前途 (初中词汇)
• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中词汇)
• comment [´kɔment] n.&v.评论；评注；注意 (初中词汇)
• estate [i´steit] n.财产；庄园；等级 (初中词汇)
• expensive [ik´spensiv] a.费钱的，昂贵的 (初中词汇)
• mansion [´mænʃən] n.大厦；宅第；官邸 (高中词汇)
• producer [prə´dju:sə] n.生产者；演出人 (高中词汇)
• monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中词汇)
• so-called [´sou ´kɔ:ld] a.所谓的，号称的 (高中词汇)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中词汇)
• mortgage [´mɔ:gidʒ] a.&vt.抵押 (高中词汇)
• access [´ækses] n.接近；通路；进入 (高中词汇)
• shrink [ʃriŋk] v.收缩；退缩；畏缩 (高中词汇)
• senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中词汇)
• garage [´gærɑ:ʒ] n.汽车房；汽车修理厂 (高中词汇)
• phenomenon [fi´nɔminən] n.现象；奇迹；珍品 (高中词汇)
• limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中词汇)
• georgia [´dʒɔ:dʒjə] n.乔治亚 (高中词汇)
• colorado [,kɔlə´rɑ:dəu] n.科罗拉多(州) (高中词汇)
• auction [´ɔ:kʃən] n.&vt.拍卖 (四级词汇)
• bankruptcy [´bæŋkrʌptsi] n.破产 (四级词汇)
• manhattan [mæn´hætən] n.曼哈顿 (四级词汇)
• economist [i´kɔnəmist] n.经济学家；节俭的人 (四级词汇)
• temporarily [´tempərərili] ad.暂时地 (四级词汇)
• category [´kætigəri] n.种类；部属；范畴 (六级词汇)
• acquisition [,ækwi´ziʃən] n.获得；获得物 (六级词汇)