RealtyTrac released yesterday its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for the first quarter of 2011, which shows foreclosure filings were reported at a 15 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010.

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The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet market posted a total of 30,172 foreclosure filings among area properties. This is a 22.5 percent decrease from the quarter previous and a 28.24 decrease from one year before.

Nationally, foreclosure filings were reported on 239,795 U.S. properties in March, a 7 percent increase from the previous month but still down 35 percent from March 2010, when 367,056 homeowners received a foreclosure notice – the highest monthly total in the history of the RealtyTrac monthly report since its inception in January of 2005.

Despite the encouraging numbers, RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio’s analysis is less-than-glowing.

“Weak demand, declining home prices and the lack of credit availability are weighing heavily on the market, which is still facing the dual threat of a looming shadow inventory of distressed properties and the probability that foreclosure activity will begin to increase again as lenders and servicers gradually work their way through the backlog of thousands of foreclosures that have been delayed due to improperly processed paperwork,” he said.