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Foreclosure filings in Southwest Florida slowed down — ever so slightly — in April.

In Lee County, per day foreclosure filings are down for the first time since January. April had 22 workdays which saw an average of 110 foreclosures filed daily, leading to a tie for February’s recording-breaking 2,460 filings, said Charlie Green, Lee County Clerk of Courts.

“It’s the average number of foreclosures per day that dropped because we had an extra day,” Green said. February had 21 work days as did March, which had 2,350 foreclosure filings.

“The trend is working the way we want it to,” he said. “I’m saying the trend is downward. We may have a month where it jumps, but I don’t think it’s going to be next month.

“I’m hearing the next rash (of foreclosure filings) is going to be commercial,” Green added.

Foreclosures in Collier County fell slightly in April as well. There were 641 foreclosure actions filed, compared to 645 in March, according to the Collier County clerk’s office.

“It doesn’t appear to me to be slowing down much,” said Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock.

On Thursday, his office processed 28 cases and that was probably only a third of what it received, he said.

“Foreclosure actions are the most intensive resource utilizing case that comes through the courthouse. It has a devastating affect on our workload,” Brock said.

In all of 2007, Collier had about 450 filings, he said. So there has been a huge jump.

In January, there were 561 filings. In February, they grew to 599, Brock said.

Asked whether he thinks the trend will continue, he said, “I don’t have my crystal ball out today. I took it home and broke it.”

On a positive note, he said, there are signs of an improving economy.

Jeff Tumbarello, director of the Southwest Florida Real Estate Investors Association, said about 40 percent of the homes in foreclosure in Collier County have a homestead exemption, indicating that more of them are owned by investors and speculators who hoped to turn them around for a quick profit before the market turned.

He said the good news is that lenders are working harder to help borrowers avoid foreclosure.

“In the end, they don’t want your home,” he said.

Also, rates for adjustable loans are trending down. “That is going to soften the blow a little bit,” Tumbarello said.

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area actually fell four spots to No. 5 and no longer holds the title of having the highest foreclosure rate in the country, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irving, Calif., company which tracks nationwide foreclosure rates. The area saw an 11 percent drop in filings from March.

Foreclosures are up 468 percent over the past year, data shows.

Green said in April 2007, Lee County had 721 foreclosures, more than two-thirds less than this year. In March 2007, 716 actions were filed.

“May jumped to 866 and it’s been going up every month except for September and November,” he said, pointing out those two months also had fewer work days. September 2007 had 1,308 foreclosures filed while November had 1,760.

“The biggest number in 2007 was 1,905 in October,” he said.

Even though Lee County has started seeing a slight drop in filings, nationwide, the news is not as good elsewhere in the country.

Foreclosure filings, default notices, auction sales notices and bank repossession were reported on 649,917 properties nationwide during the first quarter of this year, RealtyTrac reported in a prepared statement Tuesday. That equates to a 23 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 112 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007.

RealtyTrac also reports that one in every 194 households received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter of the year.

Staff writer Laura Layden contributed to this story.

E-mail Valli Finney at vallimfinney@yahoo.com