Rising home prices and a relatively healthy job market mean fewer people in the Twin Cities metro area are falling behind on their mortgage payment.

The foreclosure rate in the region dipped to 0.52 percent during December 2014, according to a monthly report from CoreLogic issued Thursday. That's down from 0.73 percent in December 2013.

Nationwide, the foreclosure rate stood at 1.47 percent for December 2014.

Delinquencies, an indication of future foreclosures, also declined to 2.16 percent of all mortgage loans in December 2014 compared with 2.75 percent in December 2013.