Newfound signs of stability in the housing market could still be threatened by rising foreclosures and slow efforts to stop them, according to two reports released Tuesday.

   The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 major metro areas showed the smallest monthly decline since June 2008. The index tumbled by 18 percent in April from the year before, but for the third month in a row it was not a record decline. Yearly losses in 13 metro areas improved compared with March.

   For the Los Angeles/Orange County area, the April decline was 21 percent from the year before. In March, the decline from the year before was 22 percent.

   But rising foreclosures fueled by layoffs could derail a meaningful turnaround. The number of homeowners at least two months behind or in foreclosure jumped in the first quarter from the previous quarter, a Treasury Department report said Tuesday.Defaults from borrowers with good credit contributed to much of the increase in seriously delinquent loans, echoing data last month from the Mortgage Bankers Association. As the recession claims more jobs, borrowers in good standing are more likely to miss their mortgage payments.

   Efforts to modify home loans have been slow and easily outpaced by the number of new delinquencies. In the first quarter, loan companies modified 185,156 mortgages, up 55 percent from the previous quarter. But the number of foreclosures in proc- ess increased to 844,389, up 22 percent.

   Nearly 1 in 4 borrowers who received a mortgage payment reduction fell behind again within six months, the report found. Four months ago, the Obama administration detailed its “Making Home Affordable” initiative. But progress has been slow.

   To put pressure on those lenders, the community group ACORN held 15 protests around the country Tuesday to call for the companies to sign onto the initiative.

   Stabilizing home prices is key to helping stem the foreclosure crisis. “Prices are still dropping. They’re just no longer in free fall,” Newport said.

   Hardest hit remain Phoenix and Las Vegas, where home prices have lost more than half their value since their peaks.

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