Economic news continues to look grim in the region.

Gas prices are up 2 cents a gallon this week in Massachusetts, after a decline of a penny last week.

A statewide survey released today by AAA Southern New England found an average price of $3.14 per gallon of self-serve regular. The average was $3.12 last week, when the price declined for the first time in six weeks.

The auto club says Massachusetts is 14 cents below the national average price of $3.28 per gallon.

But prices remain well above what they were a year ago, when a gallon averaged $2.63 in the state. Meanwhile, the number of homeowners facing foreclosure in Massachusetts continues to rise, with owners of multi-family homes especially vulnerable.

The Warren Group, a Boston-based publisher of real estate data, said today that foreclosure petitions totaled more than 2,200 statewide in February. That's up 27 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Foreclosure petitions are a first step that often leads to owners losing their homes.

Foreclosure deeds, in which the owner loses the home, more than doubled to 860 in February.

A disproportionate number of February foreclosure petitions involved two- and three-family homes. The 635 petitions for multifamily homes represented 23 percent of all petitions, but multifamily homes make up 11 percent of the state's housing stock.