Foreclosure filings fall slightly, but still near record highs

Foreclosure filings fell about one percent in August to 358,471, but that's still 18 percent more than August 2008, according to RealtyTrac. A stronger sign that the market may finally have hit bottom is that real estate owned by banks dropped 13 percent in August compared with July. As long as this trend continues, July could be the record-high month for 2009.

RealtyTrac defines foreclosure filings as default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. In August, one out of every 357 U.S. houses received a foreclosure filing. The top foreclosure state is still Nevada, with one in every 62 houses subject to a foreclosure filing, but the number of foreclosure filings were down by 8 percent. Florida took the number two spot with one in every 140 houses receiving a filing and California was number three with one in every 144 houses getting a filing.