Research firm CoreLogic says the Nashville-area housing market continues to heal if you're looking at it through the lens of seriously delinquent mortgages. In March, 4.2 percent of area home loans were delinquent, which is down 13 basis points from February and about 90 basis points less than a year earlier. All appears to be good there.

But the other metric CoreLogic tracks closely, the foreclosure rate, has stubbornly stayed around 1.15 percent since last fall. So, mortgage market watchers out there: Is that foreclosure rate our new "natural" number?

Foreclosure rates in the Nashville area decreased in February compared to February 2012 but ticked up ever so slightly from January, according to recently released data from CoreLogic. The CoreLogic data shows that the local rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 1.15 percent for February, a decrease of 0.55 percentage points compared to February 2012. Foreclosure activity in the area was lower than that of the national foreclosure rate, which was 2.85 percent for February. The rate of seriously delinquent mortgages ticked down more than 10 basis points from January and are now at their lowest level since May of 2009.

Research firm CoreLogic says the number of Nashville-area homeowners delinquent on their mortgages fell below 4.5 percent in January, the first time since June 2009 they were that low. The region's foreclosure rate held steady in the first month of the new year.

The Nashville-area housing market finished 2012 in much better shape, say the researchers at CoreLogic. The foreclosure rate fell for the eighth straight month to its lowest level since August 2009, and the number of properties delinquent 90 days or more ticked down again. That statistic is now a full percentage point below its early 2011 level.

California-based RealtyTrac has released its January numbers for foreclosure properties and Tennessee looks, relatively speaking, fairly healthy.

The state recorded 1,542 foreclosure filings in January, down 26.8 percent from the January 2012 figure. On a somewhat sour note, the month saw 814 foreclosure starts, up 32.4 percent from January of the previous year. However, Tennessee had 728 foreclosure completions this past January, down 51 percent from the January 2012 total.

For January and nationwide, foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 150,864 U.S. properties, a decrease of 7 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from the January 2012 mark. The report also shows one in every 869 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

For RealtyTrac's national release, click here.

Nearing the end of a year in which his team will close $1 billion in new loans for the first time, Churchill Mortgage President Mike Hardwick says the company has hired another 10 people in operations and sales roles. Four of the additions are based in Brentwood and another four are in Texas. Check out the details here.