Foreclosures down 16 percent in North Carolina

Foreclosure filings in North Carolina slowed during the second quarter and are now down 16 percent compared to the first half of last year.

There were 29,371 total filings in the state during the first six months of 2011, according to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts.

Filings were also down 14 percent in the Triangle counties of Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake. Filings were down 20 percent in Durham and 15 percent in Wake.

Filings mark the start of the foreclosure process. Some homeowners will work out repayment plans. Others will lose their homes.

The foreclosure crisis long ago spread from subprime borrowers to those with traditional mortgages. Although the crisis has not been as severe in the Triangle as elsewhere, it's still been impediment to prices stabilizing.

Foreclosures are expected to continue to be an issue as long as chronically high unemployment continues to cause people to fall behind on their mortgages.

Many analysts have been bracing for foreclosure activity to pick up as proceedings that were halted late last year because of the controversy about foreclosure documentation are restarted. Thus far that hasn't happened.