According to data released last week, the worst effects of the housing crisis are beginning to wind down. RealtyTrac’s latest report shows the number of foreclosures in the U.S. in April is down 13 percent to 188,780 from 219,258 a year ago. However, some of the largest cities in the U.S. continue to lag behind the rest of the country, and still have long to go before the housing crash has fully run its course. RealtyTrac published the number of new home foreclosures in April in the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. Of those 50 areas, 10 had more than double the national foreclosure rate, which is one out of every 698 new homes In California’s Inland Empire metropolitan area, the rate was more than triple that. Using RealtyTrac’s foreclosure rates and and home price data from Fiserv Case-Shiller, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates. The continuing high rates of foreclosures in some areas is a disturbing trend, says RealtyTrac’s vice president, Daren Blomquist. Although the national foreclosure rate appears to have peaked, he explains, the massive number of remaining properties yet to be foreclosed may continue to hurt the U.S. market in the long term. The large number of new foreclosures “means that distressed property sales will continue to represent a large portion of overall sales for at least the remainder of this year, which in turn will keep a lid on any robust home price recovery,” Blomquist says. After reviewing the markets with the highest foreclosure rates, it is clear that regions with the most foreclosures to date are the ones worst affected by the housing crisis. Seven of the 10 metro areas on this list had among the top 10 largest declines in home value from their pre-recession peaks. In six of the 10 regions, houses lost more than half their value in less than six years. In Las Vegas, home prices plummeted 61.8 percent between the beginning of 2006 and the end of last year. 24/7 Wall St. examined RealtyTrac’s latest foreclosure figures of new homes for April 2012, as well as the changes in the number of new foreclosures from a month prior and a year prior. In addition, we reviewed historical, current, and projected home price changes, provided by Fiserv-Case Shiller.