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Loan servicers approved nearly three times as many short sales in the last three months of 2008 as they did in the first quarter of the year, but still completed close to six foreclosures for every short sale, according to a report issued by bank regulators last week.

The report also showed that delinquencies continued to climb, with the biggest jump in prime mortgages, and that nearly half of the borrowers granted loan modifications were seriously delinquent or in foreclosure within eight months of receiving the modification.

In their report, bank regulators said loan modifications were more effective when they reduced monthly payments by more than 10 percent, with only 23 percent of those loans seriously delinquent six months after a modification. That compares with the 46 percent of all loans modified during the second quarter that were seriously delinquent after eight months.