Since February of 2011, the foreclosure rate has fallen in many metro areas around the country. The markets with the largest absolute declines were dominated by markets that experienced the harshest impact from the subprime meltdown and subsequent housing market recession. Las Vegas experienced a decline of 3.4%, from 8.3% in February of 2011 to 4.9% in February of 2012. Markets in Michigan and Arizona also made the top 10 in terms of largest absolute change, but Florida dominated the list with five markets and several more in the next group of ten (e.g. 11-20 largest improvements). Seattle was a surprise on the list, improving 0.8%, from 2.0% to 1.2% over this same 12-month period and is less than half the national foreclosure rate of 2.8%.

For more information on foreclosure patterns in local housing markets, see the Local Market Reports for the 1st quarter of 2012.