The Good News About Declining Foreclosures Is Misleading

The headlines this morning (including our own) seems to suggest a light at the end of the foreclosure tunnel. "U.S. Foreclosure Filings Increase at Slowest Pace in Four Years," proclaims Bloomberg. Any reasonable reader would be justified in coming to the conclusion from the headline -- which, I'm afraid, is where many readers stop -- that the article which follows will be chock full of good news. Well, when it comes to real estate news, you really do have to keep on reading!

While it is true that the RealtyTrac report shows that foreclosure filings in February rose at the slowest rate since 2006, that has nothing to do with a brightening economic picture.