What is happening with Colorado urban foreclosures?

The below article was recently in the Denver Business Journal. It has some good statistical information for your review. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Foreclosure filings in Colorado's largest counties fell 10.1 percent in August from a year earlier, but were up 15.6 percent from the previous month, the Colorado Division of Housing reported Tuesday. Meanwhile, foreclosure sales in the state's urban areas were up 29.7 in August from 2009 and up 11.5 percent from July 2010.

"This movement upward ends several months of generally declining foreclosure sales totals, although an upward trend has not been established at this point," the state report says.
However, "given recent declines in foreclosure filings, foreclosure sales are likely to continue a general downward trend," the report adds.

A three-month moving average shows foreclosure-filing rates gradually dropping in the urban counties since mid-2009. Foreclosure sales usually come several months after a filing.
The state's monthly "Metropolitan Foreclosure Report" covers 12 urban counties of Colorado: Denver as well as Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo and Weld counties.

According to the state report, there were 3,142 new foreclosure filings in the urban counties during August, down from 3,496 in the same month of 2009 but up from 2,718 in July 2010.
There were 1,763 foreclosure sales at auction last month, up from 1,359 a year earlier and up from 1,581 in July 2010.

Foreclosure filings are the first stage in the foreclosure process, which can either lead to a foreclosure sale of a property several months later or a homeowner avoiding a sale by settling with a lender. Foreclosure sales figures include properties that revert to the lender as well as sales to a third party.

By county, Adams County saw the greatest year-over-year decline in new foreclosure filings in August among the state's urban counties, down 24.2 percent, followed by Denver County (down 20 percent) and Arapahoe County (down 15.2 percent).
New finings increased the most in Pueblo County (31.6 percent) and Jefferson County (8 percent). Of the 12 counties in the report, Adams County had the highest rate of foreclosure sales in August (one per 616 households) and Boulder County the lowest (one per 2,029).

For the eight-month period ending in August, foreclosure filings in the 12 urban counties declined 11.8 percent from the same months of 2009, while foreclosure sales rose 21.4 percent.
Of the 12 counties, Denver saw the greatest decline in new filings between the two eight-month periods, down 22.1 percent, followed by Adams (down 17.9 percent) and Larimer counties (down 17.3 percent). Only Mesa County saw a rise in filings (up 51.3 percent) between the two periods.

In a separate Division of Housing report released August 5th, covering the entire state and giving second-quarter numbers, officials said new foreclosure filings in Colorado fell 15.7 percent in the quarter from the same period of 2009, but foreclosures sales rose 17.7 percent.
It was the third consecutive quarter with a decline in Colorado filings from the previous quarter, and the lowest quarterly filings tally in five quarters.