This just in from the NH Hampshire Housing Finance Authority:

The number of recorded foreclosure deeds in August of 2009 (288) was 13% below the number for August 2008. Cumulatively the first eight months of the year account for a 3.8% decline in foreclosure deeds over the same period in 2008. At this point, it is reasonable to predict that cumulatively 2009 will show a roughly 5% decline in foreclosure deeds when compared to 2008. While this is evidence of a slow recovery in the housing market, 2009 will most likely remain a close second worst year for home foreclosures in New Hampshire in recent history.

However, the NHHFA adds this cautionary note:

Opinions have been expressed at the national level that a new wave of foreclosures may hit by the end of the year. There is speculation that mortgage lenders have not been acting on delinquent loans as institutions try to work with troubled borrowers as part of federal efforts to encourage lenders to modify loans whenever possible to keep owners in their homes. Many of these loans are long overdue and some borrowers have not made efforts to pay on their mortgages or cannot pay their mortgages at all, yet lenders have not begun foreclosure proceedings.

The debate surrounding this "shadow inventory", as it has been called, has centered around the question of whether by the end of the year lenders will begin foreclosing on these homes and, if so, whether the foreclosures will come as a tidal wave or a slow trickle of foreclosure activity.

It is unknown how many New Hampshire loans may be included in this "shadow inventory", however, we estimate that it is a very small portion of the national total. We also believe that this inventory will more likely make its way through the system slowly rather than as a large wave since it is unlikely that the lenders holding these loans would have the capacity to process foreclosures at a faster pace than demonstrated in the past.