In another sign that the worst is over for the housing market the number of Americans filing for foreclosure has dropped to the lowest level since 2007.
The data comes from Realty-Trac, a website that monitors foreclosures.
"It's now clearly trending in the right direction by many measures," says Lawrence Yun, an economist with the National Association of Realtors.
John Taylor of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition helps people keep their homes. He says a drop in foreclosures helps everyone.
"When you stop these foreclosures, now we're stopping the persistent decline in property values for people like you and I who might have a prime loan on our home," he explains.
The recovery, however, is no where near even state-to-state. 18 states actually had increases in third-quarter foreclosure filings compared to last year. The most drastic were New Jersey, New York, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Also troubling, several states such as California and North Carolina saw increases in unemployment filings last week according to the Department of Labor.
Nationally, however, the number of people seeking unemployment aid plummeted to the lowest level since early 2008, and the trend could positively impact the housing market.
The reduction in unemployment filings was largely attributed to fewer manufacturing layoffs. Just last week the unemployment rate also fell, dipping below 8 percent for the first time in years.
(Information courtesy NBC News)
