The wave of foreclosures hitting the nation's housing market has been much less severe than anticipated, with foreclosure filings at their lowest level in five years last month, according to a report out Thursday, CNNMoney.com reported today. Foreclosure filings—including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—were reported on 180,427 properties in September, a 7 percent decline from August and down more than 16 percent from a year earlier, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. That's the lowest number of filings since September 2007. The decline in foreclosures has been especially steep in states like California and Texas, in which foreclosures do not go through the courts. In these "non-judicial" states, foreclosures were handled relatively quickly once the banks started to process foreclosures again. In judicial states where the courts are involved, such as Florida, Illinois, New York and New Jersey, the banks have been careful to make sure all their paperwork is complete and accurate, which has slowed the process significantly.
