Foreclosures falling: Has foreclosure fever broken?

Recent data suggest that the worst of the residential foreclosure crisis has passed, especially in some of the hardest-hit areas of the Gulf Coast.

For example, RealtyTrac reports that while the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area still ranks as the third-highest rate of foreclosures in the nation, foreclosures there fell 5% in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. They also fell 2% compared to the same quarter in 2008.

In the Sarasota area, foreclosures fell nearly 7% on an annual basis in the third quarter. In the Tampa Bay region and the Naples-Marco Island area, they fell 5%.