Two new sets of data show a rapidly-changing local real estate market.

The Listing Information Network, Inc. (LINK) is reporting a higher number of sales in the downtown Boston market during 2nd-quarter 2010, surging 30 percent, according to the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, sales in high-end, “luxury” buildings increased 9 percent.

Meanwhile, the Warren Group has released June foreclosures data for Massachusetts. Petitions to foreclose, the first step in the foreclosure process, have dropped 21.7 percent since last year.

However, the news is not all good:

Even though the number of foreclosures initiated in June declined, the number of completed foreclosures more than doubled from a year earlier. A total of 1,313 foreclosure deeds were recorded, a 109.1 percent jump from 628 in June 2009. Foreclosure deeds also climbed 1.4 percent from May’s 1,294 foreclosures. This is the fifth month this year that foreclosure deeds surpassed 1,000.

The increase in foreclosures and, separately, in auctions, to me means that lenders are finally getting serious about reducing the number of bad loans on their books. Only lately has there been sufficient demand to sell these troubled properties.

In Suffolk County, which includes Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop-by-the-sea, June foreclosures were down 50 percent compared to 2009 and are down 22%, this year. Auctions are up 148% this year compared to last while foreclosure deeds are up 12 percent, according to the Warren Group.