New York Foreclosures Nearly Stall

In New York State, foreclosures have dwindled dramatically, but it's not due to some huge upswing in the housing market. Rather, it's the result of a state judge's ruling in October that banks must reaffirm that they know their foreclosure documents are accurate based on their own examination of the paperwork. Abigail Field of our sister site, DailyFinance, delves into the aftermath of the ruling and its implications.Check out the jump to read more.

On Oct. 20, New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman ended robo-signing in New York state foreclosures by requiring a special affirmation from the banks' attorneys. They now must swear that they know the banks' documents are true because they checked the paperwork.

At the time, attorneys in the state told me that they expected foreclosure filings by the big banks to halt, or nearly so, for up to several months. Eventually, they said, the banks and their attorneys would create a new process that allowed the attorneys to make the affirmations.

The first empirical evidence is in, and the rule has indeed choked off the filings.