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Foreclosure activity in the United States has fallen to a 40-month low, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

Filings in Minnesota also plummeted, falling 20.5 percent from March -- the ninth-biggest drop in the country -- and 19 percent from last April.

Nationwide, RealtyTrac reported a 9 percent decrease in foreclosure filings from March and a 34 percent decrease from April 2010.

Unfortunately, the slowdown is not the result of an improvement in the market, executives said. "This slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure," RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a release.

According to RealtyTrac's data, the foreclosure process in Minnesota is taking nearly two months longer than it did a year ago. Minnesota is averaging 204 days from foreclosure start to completion, up from 148 days a year ago. The U.S. average is 400 days up from 340 days last year.

John Patterson, research director for the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, cautions that foreclosure numbers can change a lot from month to month. "We still have a lot of problem loans to work our way through," Patterson said. "We are not out of the woods yet."

The agency is the state's affordable housing bank and offers products and services to help Minnesotans buy and fix homes. To gauge the health of the state's housing market they focus more on delinquency rate for residential mortgages. Though their most recent report showed delinquency rates declined during all four quarters of 2010, 3.4 percent of mortgages were delinquent in the fourth quarter, still very high by historical standards.

Minnesota, was ranked 21st in total number of foreclosure filings with 2,646 and with 1 in every 882 housing units in the state receiving a foreclosure notice according to RealtyTrac. Minnesota's rate of foreclosure filings ranked 23rd. Ten states accounted for 70 percent of total foreclosure activity, lead by California, Florida, and Arizona.

Nevada had the highest rate of foreclosure filings in April with 1 in every 97 housing units receiving a notice during the month.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926