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Both new foreclosure actions and completed foreclosure sales took a dive in April after rising sharply the month before, according to industry data released Wednesday.

Foreclosure starts nationwide were approximately 163,000 in April, down 25 percent from 217,000 the prior month, reports the industry alliance HOPE NOW. An earlier assessment by the nonprofit group showed that new foreclosures had increased 21 percent over the February-to-March period.

Finalized foreclosure sales dropped to 73,000 for April, compared with 85,000 in March, representing a decrease of 14 percent. HOPE NOW’s last monthly report pointed to a 35 percent increase in completed foreclosures between February and March.

Loan modification stats showed the same give-and-take. For the month of April, mortgage servicers completed 57,000 permanent proprietary modifications, down 26 percent from 77,000 in March. From February to March, proprietary mods were up 26 percent.

HOPE NOW’s proprietary modification numbers include loans restructured through the private mod programs of individual lenders, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The April data does not yet include loan modifications done under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which have not been reported for the month.

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An estimated 210,000 homeowners received permanent, proprietaryloan modifications from mortgage servicers during the first quarter of 2011, according to data released by HOPE NOW yesterday.   That’s down nearly 20% from the 261,500 private-program mods reported during the fourth quarter of 2010, and 40% fewer than the 347,000 completed in the third quarter of2010.

The proprietary mod tally does not include loan modifications through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  While the quarterly totals indicatea significant slide in modification activity, servicers reported an uptick during the month of March, when approximately 77,000
proprietary mods were completed. That’s up 26% from the 61,000 tracked in February.  “We were pleased to see the increase in proprietary loan modifications from the previous month, despitethe challenges facing the industry,” said Faith Schwartz, HOPE NOW’s executive director. “This reversed a downward trend inproprietary modifications seen in the previous few months.”

HOPE NOW’s data also show an increase in foreclosure activityin March.  Foreclosure starts for the month were 217,000, up from the 180,000 reported for February 2011 – an increase of 21%.Completed foreclosure sales in March totaled approximately 85,000, up from the 62,000 from the month before representing an increase of 35%.  According to HOPE NOW’s report, 60-plus day delinquencies at the end of March tallied 2.63 million, down 6% from the 2.78 million reported in February.  Schwartz commented, “While it’s encouraging to see a continued decline in 60 day
delinquency we realize many homeowners continue to be at risk of foreclosure, as evidenced by the increase in foreclosure sales in March.”