In Massachusetts, for example, foreclosure filings and sales have dropped through the month of May. Filings are down considerably from May, 2010 numbers, and the total number of sales has dropped as well. But, like in many other states, experts point to reluctance on the part of banks to push through foreclosures –rightfully fearing the wrath of the government for improperly filing foreclosures.

When we’re talking about recovery in the real estate market, we are usually referring to two statistics: the number of new home sales and the median home price (average home prices can be skewed by high-end real estate, especially in a down market.)

In Massachusetts and elsewhere, the number of foreclosure sales is only indirectly tied to those two numbers. They may be down in MA, but median home prices haven’t risen, and new home sales haven’t picked up. This points to a lack of any systemic improvement in the economy and more to the artificial delays and declines we’ve seen elsewhere.

As long as this continues, sellers will continue to have a hard time. Buyers, however, will more than likely continue to have a strong position and a dominant position in the market for at least the next couple of years, owing to low median home prices and an abundance of foreclosures on the market.

The best way to make a move in the market is to look for discounted properties and observe the price action in the surrounding area. How many homes are being sold? Where are home prices headed? How much of a foreclosure inventory is there? This could help you pinpoint a great market to enter to reap dividends – and it appears Massachusetts has plenty of those opportunities available.

In Ohio and Florida, two states hit particularly hard by the foreclosure crisis (more so the Sunshine State than the Buckeye State), foreclosure rates on a year-over-year basis went up in April in some metropolitan areas. In the Youngstown Metropolitan Statistical Area, for example, rates increased by 0.66% from April, 2010. The new rate for the area is 4.72%, significantly higher than the national average of 3.47%.

A bit of good news is that the mortgage delinquency rate dropped by 0.29% – which, granted, may be too small to be of any significance.

The same story can be told in the Sarasota area of Florida. The rate for April, 2011 was 12.09%, a 2% increase over the past year. The mortgage delinquency rate also rose, to 16.48% from 16.23%.

In California, of all places, the foreclosure rate in some MSAs in the central part of the state actually fell. In Sacramento and Fresno, for example, the foreclosure rate fell by 0.1% and 0.01%, respectively. Six other metro areas had declining rates, with the largest decrease of 0.95% coming in Merced.

We can attribute the increases in Ohio and Florida to continuing economic conditions that caused the original waves of foreclosures to come through, sparking the foreclosure crisis. And we can more than likely chalk the rate decreases in California up to slower processing times and tighter foreclosure requirements.

In the end, a wide variety of opportunities to purchase discount homes exists in the current market, and as long as the foreclosure rate remains high – and the backlog of foreclosure homes remains strong – investors and homebuyers alike will have plenty of time to take action.

Numbers released today reveal that new home sales are estimated to have dropped 4%, down to 310,000 homes per year (adjusted annually). This is far below the 700,000 homes per year that most experts state is indicative of a healthy real estate market.

Over the last 24 months, sales of new homes have decreased by 18%. In 2010, especially, the results were particularly bad and that year was the worst year on record for new home sales. And since each new home, on average, is assumed to produce three jobs and $90,000 in taxes, they have a disproportionate influence on the economy over existing home sales.

Existing home sales, by the way, were reported to be lower than they were last month. The figure of 4.81 million per year (annualized) is roughly 3.8% down from April’s figures, and a whopping 15.3% lower than last year at this time. Granted, last year’s numbers were inflated by the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit that the government offered that has since expired.

Still, neither of these figures is really good for the real estate market as a whole. But, they do mean, as usual, that now is a perfect time to invest or buy for homeowners and investors who qualify. Prices are incredibly low, demand is flagging, supply is high, and interest rates are about as cheap as they can get. With figures like these, buying should be a top option for those who have the means to do so.

In comparison to the first quarter of 2010, the nation’s foreclosure rate is down 27% providing great news for those hoping for a real estate market recovery. This news indicates that recovery is occurring albeit slowly.

Nevada has experienced the largest decline in the first quarter of 2011 in comparison to the first quarter of 2010 with a drop of 2.8% followed by 1.7% in Arizona and 1.3% in California. The foreclosure rate in Utah declined by 1% followed by a decline of 0.9% in both Georgia and Idaho. Michigan and Florida showed significant declines as well with 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Washington, D.C., West Virginia, North Dakota, and Vermont experienced a 0% decrease with all other states falling between 0.1% and 0.6%. Although the recovery looks slow, the decrease in foreclosure rates is not something to take lightly as it is indicative of real estate market growth.

Let’s take a closer look at Central Valley in California. This area has a decline in foreclosure rates for the month of March in every metro but one (Chico). Furthermore, there is also a decline in delinquency rates in Central Valley, which is an excellent indicator of progress. Specifically, the Bakersfield-Delano delinquency rate fell 4.44% for March in comparison to March 2010. Similarly, the foreclosure rate in Merced fell 0.86% from a year ago. Other areas in Central Valley have similar patterns of decrease in both foreclosure rates and delinquency rates.

The real estate market across the nation is improving with decreased foreclosure rates and even delinquency rates. Although the progress is slower than desired, this is definitely a great sign that recovery is occurring.

In the end, the housing market is on its way toward recovery and the current market marks an exceptional opportunity for those looking to invest in discounted properties and secure low interest rates on 15 and 30-year mortgages.

Until now, that is. Figures released today indicate that in this foreclosure market, no city is truly immune. Four cities that have been relatively unscathed since the housing crisis began – Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, and Cleveland – have underwent pretty steep price declines over the past few months. The same can be said, of course, for the hard-hit cities like Las Vegas who have been dealing with the foreclosure crisis for years

Prices for large metropolitan areas, on average, have fallen to 2002 lows, a collective fall of about 33% from 2006. This huge drop is actually larger than the one seen during the Great Depression, percentage wise.

What’s worse is that some experts in the field have started calling the market a “double-dip” market – in that the original crash was followed by a recovery, only to then in turn be followed by another dip.

What gives? Unemployment has fallen since its peak of 10.1%; more jobs are being added to the economy. Surely the economy is getting better, right? In some ways, it is, but we still have a massive backlog of foreclosed homes on inventory that are just depressing prices.

That, coupled with strict lending requirements, means that fewer of those homes are being purchased, resulting in a continual glut of supply.

This is why buying a home now – especially a foreclosed one – is a terrific idea if you can get approved. You have access to an almost-unlimited supply of homes to choose from, and can find a great discount if you shop through the distressed properties in your area. Even if you live in a city that we thought was untouchable.

A total amount of $269 million were provided to home buyers in Indiana. These include those who purchased a house since the credit program’s launch in April 2008. Data from the Internal Revenue Service showed Indiana ranks 14th in terms of total tax credits filed, giving a conservative estimate of where the state stands in terms of foreclosures by state statistics.

The latest breakdown by states from the IRS showed that $12.6 billion had been used on tax credits as part of the government’s attempt to improve the conditions of housing markets around the country and lower the number of foreclosure homes for sale.

Homebuyers who filed for tax credits accounted for more than 30% of the homes sold in the state since April 2008, including existing houses and homes in foreclosures in Indianapolis. However, this percentage does not include properties that were sold without an involvement from a realtor.

Reports also showed that majority of those who sought tax credits were first time home buyers, both of Indiana foreclosures and existing residential properties. This, in turn, is believed to have contributed to the rise in the housing sales numbers of the whole state by around ten percent.

The credit offers as much as $8,000 to first time home buyers, while families who already own homes and are buying another one are provided with as much as $6,500 under the credit program. Despite the obvious need of most home buyers for financial help in purchasing homes, real estate experts do not expect residential property sales to get to a sudden stop once the credit program reaches its deadline.

The top states in terms of tax credit filings include California, Texas and Florida. Indiana comes in at number 14. The rankings are based on statistics gathered between April 2008 and February 2010.

Along with other counties in Indiana, foreclosures in Indianapolis are believed to have played a major role in the high number of state residents who filed for tax credit under the government’s program. This partly influenced the rise in home sales in the state.

According to the two agencies, the percentage of performing or current residential mortgage loans in the country has decreased for the sixth straight quarter in the July-September quarter as foreclosure postings exceeded one million on September 30. The agencies analyzed about 65 percent of all home loans in the U.S., equivalent to 34 million home loans with a principal balance total of $6 trillion.

The agencies also reported that the number of serious defaults – home loans which are in default by 60 days or more – rose across all mortgage categories, pushing up the percentage of troubled loans to 6.2 percent in the third quarter.

Of all adjustable-rate mortgage loans, 67.7 percent were current as of September 30 while 27.9 percent were in serious default or already in foreclosure.

According to government analysts, the most distressing finding in their mortgage study was that nearly 4 percent of prime mortgage loans were in default by more than 2 months, an increase of more than 200 percent from the percentage in the July to September quarter last year.

The agencies said that banks increased their efforts in implementing the federal bank foreclosed home prevention program, putting over 680,000 mortgages into trial modifications and trial repayment plans in the third quarter, but these modifications were still inadequate to prevent the continued rise in loan defaults even among prime borrowers.

The study showed that more than 50 percent of all modified home loans as of the third quarter were already in default by more than 2 months, with many of these already in the foreclosure process. Not even one percent of all borrowers with modified loans under the Home Affordable Modification Program sustained their modified and reduced monthly payments to be able to make their loan modifications permanent.

In addition, banks also failed to carry out their loan modification efforts at a pace that could keep up with the default rate. They were able to modify loans for only one out of six homeowners who were in serious default or in foreclosure in the quarter ended September. During the July-September quarter, over 369,000 households received default or foreclosure notices despite intensified efforts by the federal government in pressuring lenders to step up their bank foreclosed home prevention activities.

Although the foreclosure percentage marked a decrease from the 32.3-percent share in September and from the 44-percent share in October last year and marked the lowest level reached since June 2008 when foreclosure sales accounted for 29.9 percent of overall home sales, the October foreclosure percentage this year was still high, compared to other markets.

According to the research company, the total of newly-built and pre-owned homes and condo units sold in October increased to 7,933 units, a jump from the 7,879 units sold off in September and from the 7,613 units sold in October last year.

Home sales prices also increased, with the price median rising by almost seven percent to $390,000 from the $365,000 median in September and by four percent from the October 2008 median of $375,000.

The rise in the median price in October marked the first time that the median increased over a 12-month period. The last time there was an increase over a one-year period was in November of 2007, when the median rose by 1.5 percent over the November 2006 median.

Bay Area analysts said that the median price rose because of the drop in the share of San Francisco foreclosures for sale in overall home sales. The October 2009 median was the highest since July when the median reached $395,000, the highest level so far this year, but it was however lower by more than 41 percent from the peak median of $665,000 reached in the middle of 2007.

Another reason for the rise in the median was the increase in sales of houses in the price range of $500,000. Total sales of homes worth more than $500,000 comprised 36 percent of all sales in October, marking an increase from the 34.9-percent share in October last year and a significant rise from the 22.7-percent share in January.

Overall home sales in higher-cost neighborhoods also increased, with sales in Santa Clara, San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo comprising 42.2 percent of all house sales in October, a jump of more than 35 percent from October last year.

Almost 16,000 residential properties in San Antonio fell into default or foreclosure this year, a substantial increase of 42 percent from total foreclosure postings last year. The number also marked the highest level reached since 1987, based on court records in Bexar County.

For the foreclosure auction this December, a total of 1,437 properties were posted, a 40-percent increase from postings in December last year.

Local housing analysts said that most homeowners in San Antonio who have lost their houses to foreclosure were those who were enticed to take out bigger loans during the boom years. Lenders were lax in their lending standards, enabling borrowers to overextend themselves.

The analysts also observed that most of the defaulting loans were mortgages that were taken out in 2005 and 2006 when home loans were offered even with incomplete financial documents.

However, despite the relatively high number of San Antonio foreclosures for sale this year, the analysts said that the resilience of the local economy has helped the local housing market survive the downturn.

Meanwhile, in October, according to a report from the San Antonio Board of Realtors, house sales jumped by 25 percent compared to total sales in October last year. More than 1,700 previously owned homes were sold, most of which were priced below $200,000.

According to realtors, most of the buyers were first time buyers who made their purchase to beat the November expiration of the federal first time homebuyer tax credit. The extension of the tax scheme until April next year is again expected by realtors to help push up total home sales next year.

Travis Kessler, chief executive of the realtor association, said that the other reason for the increase in home sales this October when compared to the same month last year was the economic plunge that occurred when Lehman Brothers and the stock market collapsed, prompting many prospective home buyers to postpone their planned home purchases.

Kessler said that confidence in the market has been returning, making home prices relatively stable. The sales price median has dropped by only one percent to $149,700 from $151,000 last year. About nine percent of total sales were bank owned foreclosures.