What is happening with foreclosures at this time?

It is almost 2012. This year has flown by. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this Thursday and have a lot to be thankful for. I hope you do too.

Foreclosure auction sales in Colorado's 12 urban counties fell to a 42-month low in October, and new foreclosure filings also were down sharply, the state Division of Housing reported Wednesday.

The report says foreclosure filings in the 12 counties dropped 23.2 percent in October, to 2,350, from the same month of 2010, and also were down 3.3 percent from the previous month.

Foreclosure sales, meanwhile, were down 28.3 percent in October, to 938, from October 2010, and decreased 16.5 percent from September 2011.

"October's auction sales fell off more than expected, and it's pretty clear at this point that there's a well-established downward trend now in place," Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken said. "We're cautiously optimistic that the trend will continue, but we're waiting to see how things look after homeowners begin to pay off holiday bills early next year."

In the city of Denver alone, foreclosure sales fell 41.6 percent, to 115, between October 2010 and October 2011. The greatest drop in auction sales in the 12 counties was in Adams County, down 60.8 percent, to 69.

Year to date through October, 2011 foreclosure filings were down 29.3 percent in the urban counties from the same period last year, and auction sales were down 22.6 percent, the report said.

The Metropolitan Foreclosure Report covers Denver County as well as Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo and Weld counties. Smaller counties are not included in the monthly totals.

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.

The state foreclosure data are mostly for homes, but include a small number of commercial properties and vacant land.

The Division of Housing posts foreclosure tallies for 12 urban counties once a month and for all Colorado counties quarterly.

In a separate Division of Housing report released Nov. 8, covering the entire state, officials said new foreclosure filings in Colorado fell 24.6 percent in the third quarter from the same period of 2010. Foreclosure auction sales also fell sharply between the two periods, by 29.8 percent, the earlier state report said.