5.4 percent of Minnesota mortgage holders were behind by at least one payment during the third quarter. That's almost a full percentage point lower than during the same period last year. It's also one of the lowest delinquency rates among the states.

Mortgage rates have slipped to a new low, bolstering hopes that the beleaguered housing market will continue to strengthen. The latest numbers suggest that this will be one of the busiest spring housing markets in several years.

Organizers with the group Occupy Homes say their efforts to help homeowners fight foreclosure are showing signs of success, MPR reports. The group's staged sit-ins at foreclosed properties have led to 40 arrests, including local rapper Brother Ali outside a Minneapolis home last month.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is eyeing a $374 billion mortgage-servicing portfolio of Residential Capital LLC. The bankrupt lending unit, a subsidiary of government-owned Ally Financial, filed for Chapter 11 protection in May. Dow Jones News Wires reports Minnesota-based ResCap already has a proposed agreement to sell the mortgage unit to NationStar Mortgage Holdings Inc. Berkshire says it will match the $2.4 billion bid, but offer a lower breakup fee.

On average it costs $3,559 to close a loan in Minnesota -- down 15 percent from last year, according to the Star Tribune. A new survey by Bankrate.com shows closing costs in Minnesota are the 15th cheapest in the nation, compared to the 17th highest last year.

Despite a drop in foreclosures in the Twin Cities last year, 2012 will not likely be the year that the housing crisis winds down. The Star Tribune reports that a moratorium on processing new foreclosures has ended, which will likely increase the number of local foreclosures processed in the coming year.

The number of obese adults, along with related disease rates and health care costs, is on pace to spike dramatically in Minnesota over the next 20 years, according to an eye-opening new report.

A report from the McKnight Foundation finds the number of foreclosures prevented by housing agencies and advocacy groups is going up. But not quite as fast as the number of foreclosures.