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The number of new residential loan modifications fell in the third quarter to 470,321, down 17 percent from the previous quarter and 32 percent from a year ago, according to a Dec. 29 joint news release from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

“You’ll probably see some more stabilization now,” Bruce Krueger, lead mortgage expert for the Office of the Comptroller, said in a Dec. 29 conference call, Bloomberg reported. “I really can’t forecast whether there’s going to be a continuing decline, but I think we’re going to see more stability.”

Loan modifications fell in the third quarter as more delinquent homeowners lost their properties, Bloomberg reported. The number of foreclosures and short sales rose to 244,840 in the third quarter, up 63 percent from a year ago and 11 percent from the previous quarter.

“Completed foreclosures, which have risen for six consecutive quarters, are expected to continue rising as servicers and borrowers exhaust home retention options to assist borrowers with seriously delinquent mortgages,” the Treasury Department said in an accompanying report.

The number of homeowners who qualified for permanent loan modifications through the government’s main program, Home Affordable Modification Program, totaled 504,648 as of November, short of its 3 million target, the Treasury Department said, while an additional 1.9 million homeowners started loan modifications under private programs.

Meanwhile, data from Jacksonville, Fla.-based mortgage servicing and information company Lender Processing Services Inc. showed that 6.92 million properties were delinquent or in foreclosure as of Nov. 30, down from the 8.12 million peak in January 2010, Bloomberg reported. In November, the number of foreclosure filings plunged 14 percent from a year ago – reaching a two-year low – according to a Dec. 16 report from RealtyTrac Inc. cited by Bloomberg.