The Chicago Sun-Times reports that February foreclosure filings in the Chicago metropolitan area dropped 11.5 percent to 11,444 compared to January and were 9 percent lower than February 2012, based on the latest foreclosure statistics from  RealtyTrac. Read the Sun-Times article.

“I think this is good news,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Chicago still has the tenth highest rate in the country among metropolitan areas, but it does appear that possibly the recent upward trend is turning a corner. With this decrease in February, it’s the third straight month with year over year decreases.”

Despite recent decreases in foreclosure activity, Illinois continued to post the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, behind Florida and Nevada. Illinois is a judicial foreclosure state requiring the foreclosure process to go through the courts, which can cause delays.

Statewide, Illinois foreclosure filings were down 10 percent in February compared to January and down 5 percent from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac.

Nationally, foreclosure filings rose slightly — up 2 percent to 154,281 properties — in February compared to January but remained 25 percent below filing levels of a year ago, according to RealtyTrac.

Read the news release from RealtyTrac along with media coverage of the latest foreclosure trends including:

February foreclosure filings plummet 25% – HousingWire

Illinois’ foreclosure rate dips again in Feb., still high – Chicago Tribune