Real estate agents in Dover, Melrose, Palmer, Hanover, Brookline and Wellesley have been much busier in the first four months of this year than they were a year earlier.

Those communities have had some of the biggest increases in home sales volume so far this year, according to The Warren Group. Home sales in Massachusetts surged 46 percent in April compared to the same month in 2009 and year-to-date sales are up 26 percent.

But home sales transactions more than doubled in places like Brookline and Hanover.

In Dover and Melrose, single-family home sales almost tripled in the first four months of the year, compared to the same period in 2009.

In the western part of the state, Palmer’s home sales rose a whopping 153 percent to 43 from 17 last year.

And in the highly desirable towns of Brookline and Wellesley sales more than doubled. In Brookline, home sales transactions rose from 13 last year to 31, while Wellesley recorded 82 home sales compared to just 35 a year earlier.

More homeowners in Massachusetts may have lost their homes to foreclosure so far this year than they did a year ago, but fewer homeowners are behind on their mortgage payments.

That’s according to the most recent delinquency survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The association reported today that the Bay State delinquency rate fell 90 basis point to 8.83 percent in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

The group pointed out that mortgage delinquency rates typically fall between the fourth and first quarter of the year due to seasonal factors, like heating bills and Christmas holiday spending that cause many homeowners to fall behind in December. Those homeowners eventually catch up with missed payments by the end of March.

In Massachusetts, about 3 percent of loans were 30 days past due, while 3.7 percent of loans were 90 days or more delinquent. The smallest group,1.2 percent of loans, were 60 days late.

Yesterday, The Warren Group reported that there have been 4,821 foreclosures statewide in the first four months of the year, up 37 percent from 3,530 during the same period in 2009.

Foreclosure activity in Massachusetts isn’t easing. A new report from The Warren Group shows that lenders started and finished more foreclosures statewide in April than they did a year earlier.

And Banker & Tradesman reports this week that properties that have entered the foreclosure process are moving faster to the auction stage. As Colleen M. Sullivan reports in this week’s issue of Banker & Tradesman, lenders are getting more efficient at handling foreclosures. The fact that banks lifted foreclosure moratoriums, most of them instituted in early 2009, has also sped the process up.

The pick-up in home sales activity has probably also encouraged lenders to move ahead with auctions in hopes of selling the properties and avoiding holding them in their own REO portfolios.

The news comes as federal officials announced that more trial home loan modifications are getting canceled. The U.S. Treasury said 277,640 trial loan modifications were cancelled in April compared to 155,173 in March. Why?

Mortgage servicers are disqualifying borrowers who have not met the income documentation guidelines or who can’t keep up with the reduced monthly payments under the modified loans.

Apparently, the federal program known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, will require homeowners to prove that they have the income to qualify for a mortgage modification starting in June. In the past, mortgage servicers and lenders were taking the word of borrowers that they had a certain income level in order to reduce their mortgage payments.

All of this points to one thing – the foreclosure problem is far from over.

The Realtor Price Index was up to 55.59 in April 2010 compared to 40.41 during the same month last year and 53.15 in March.

It’s been just about a year since one of my neighbors put his elegant home on the market.

The 5-bedroom home with more than 4,300 square feet of living space was initially listed for more than $1.8 million. The home’s asking price has been slashed to $1.5 million.

Surely, it’s a bit frustrating to home sellers, like my neighbors, who’ve been hearing about the housing market’s turnaround and all the activity that’s been spurred by the homebuyer tax credits but still haven’t been able move their properties.

Homes sales have been increasing in Massachusetts for nine straight months. Even sales of properties priced $1 million and higher have improved. There were 246 single-family homes sold in that price range in the first quarter, up from 170 during the same period a year ago, according to The Warren Group.

But higher-end homes typically take much longer to sell, and agents typically spend a lot more money marketing the homes.

Which got me to thinking – are brokers of luxury properties doing anything different to draw other brokers and potential buyers to their properties?

Several years ago, I remember getting an invitation in the mail to an open house of a million-dollar-plus property that included cocktails and a recital by some local musician.

Are local agents organizing lunches with special cuisine or raffling off prizes to generate traffic?

Curious to hear what’s happening …