Foreclosure activity continued to slow last month in the Pikes Peak region.
Just 78 residential and commercial properties fell into foreclosure during July, a 2.5 percent drop from the same month last year, a new report from the El Paso County Public Trustee's Office shows. July's foreclosure total also matched June's figure.
"The first time in a long time that a low month hasn't been followed by a pendulum swing to a high month," Public Trustee Tom Mowle said in his report.
Foreclosure filings totaled 636 in El Paso County during the first seven months of this year, a 22.2 percent reduction over the same period in 2016, according to the Public Trustee's report.
Foreclosure notices go out to financially troubled property owners who fall several months behind in their mortgage or loan payments. Owners who fail to resolve the issue with their lender risk losing their home or commercial property at a trustee's auction.
But an improved economy and stronger single-family housing market have led to a reduction in foreclosure activity.
This year, El Paso County foreclosures are on pace to total about 1,200; foreclosures had soared during the Great Recession and in the years immediately after, spiking to a record high of 5,288 in 2009.
