10% fewer home foreclosures in the U.S. in Nov. than in Oct.

LOS ANGELES - The number of U.S. home foreclosures fell 10 percent in November, to 201,950 from 224,451 in October, RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, Calif., a mortgage-research company, reported.

"It's a little bit of good news in the otherwise murky real estate market right now," said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing. "The fact that we're seeing a 10 percent decrease is significant. It's a good thing."

In Pennsylvania, foreclosure filings totaled 2,577 in November, down 19 percent from October. New Jersey had 4,232 filings, a 13 percent drop.

Both states also had fewer foreclosures in November than a year ago: a drop of 19 percent in Pennsylvania, and one of 17 percent in New Jersey.

For November, Pennsylvania had one foreclosure filing for every 2,104 households, while New Jersey had one for every 814 households.

Nationally, foreclosures were up 68 percent from the November 2006 total of 120,334, RealtyTrac said. The United States had one foreclosure filing in November for every 617 households.

The filings include default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions. Some properties might have received more than one notice if the owners have multiple mortgages.

Forty-three states had an increase in foreclosure filings over last year.

The decline from October to November likely corresponds with a lull in adjustable-rate-mortgage resets, Sharga said. Such loans typically have a low introductory interest rate, then reset sharply higher after a set period.