Foreclosures have decreased dramatically in Chicago the last year.

Residential foreclosure activity in the seven-county Chicago area dropped dramatically from June to July, and the decline was even more pronounced when compared with a year ago.

New foreclosures filed were down 18.59 percent from June to July in 2011 and 37.49 percent from July 2010. The data represents not only a continuation of the general downward trend since the beginning of the year, but also a reflection of national and state data, which also saw a decrease in foreclosures (foreclosures in Illinois were down 3.5 percent from June and fell nearly 46 percent from a year ago).

In Cook County, foreclosures were down 21.03 percent from June to July in 2011, and 41.91 percent  from July of last year. Will County had the largest percentage drop from June — 23.49 percent — and a 33.7 percent decrease from July 2010.

Here is the data for the other five counties:

• DuPage — down 18.76 percent; down 22.9 percent from July 2010
• Lake — same as June, but down 24.79 percent from July 2010
• McHenry — down 12.05 percent; down 37.66 percent from July 2010
• Kane — down 13.78 percent; down 33.12 percent from July 2010
• Kendall — down 18.8 percent; down 19.49 percent from July 2010

One caveat to the new data was a 9.31 percent increase in REO (real estate owned) properties, which are homes that did not sell and reverted to bank ownership. Of all the counties, Cook County had the highest increase with 17.21 percent.