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Foreclosure activity in September rose 21 percent from a year earlier but fell by double-digits from the prior month as some state laws slowed the foreclosure process, according to a monthly report by research firm RealtyTrac.

Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — fell by 12 percent from August to 265,968 in September, according to RealtyTrac, which records property in various stages of foreclosure.

That means one in every 475 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in September, the firm said in its report released on Thursday.

“Much of the 12 percent decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures,” James Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, said in a statement.

Most significantly, a California law that requires lenders to make contact with borrowers at least 30 days before filing a Notice of Default (NOD) took effect in early September http://payday-loans-application.com. The state saw a drop 51 percent from the previous month, according to RealtyTrac. That helped drive the national rate down, given that California accounts for close to a third of monthly U.S. foreclosures.

A new law in North Carolina resulted in a 66 percent drop in notices of defaults in September in that state.

However the reprieve may be short-lived. After a Massachusetts law requiring lenders to give homeowners 90-days to become current before initiating foreclosure proceedings took effect in May, the foreclosure rate dropped. But three months later initial foreclosure filings jumped and were back near levels seen a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.

The markets that once lead the housing boom topped the foreclosure list in September. 

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