HARRISBURG — A drop in the number of Pennsylvania homeowners falling behind on mortgage payments in the first half of this year mirrored a national trend — but a big increase could be in store soon.

New figures out today from foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac showed that 19,100 Pennsylvania homes received at least one foreclosure filing in January through June, or one in almost 300.

That’s down almost 38 percent from the second half of 2010, and down 31 percent from the first half of 2010, while Pennsylvania’s foreclosure rate has remained around one-third of the national rate.

However, RealtyTrac warns that foreclosure actions could rise since processing and procedural delays have put off as many as 1 million foreclosure actions nationally until 2012 or later.

Nationally, the number of homes taken back by lenders in the first half of this year fell 30 percent compared with the same 2010 period.