MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s foreclosure crisis is easing after eight long years.

House prices are rising and the number of foreclosures is falling. And the latest sign is that the number of Twin Cities homes lost to foreclosure fell by nearly half in January compared with a year ago, according to the research firm CoreLogic, the Star Tribune reported Thursday.

The crisis peaked statewide in 2008 when there were 26,000 foreclosures, compared with just 6,000 in 2005. Last year, there were about 11,800 foreclosures across Minnesota.

“We saw an incredible drop,” said Julie Gugin, executive director of the Minnesota Homeownership Center, which provides financial counseling across the state. “We’re definitely heading in the right direction.”

But it’s difficult to say when foreclosures will recede all the way to their pre-crisis lows. Many families earn less than they did five years ago, and thousands of homeowners will never regain the equity they lost when house prices crashed. And there are still broad swaths of the state where thousands of homeowners are struggling.