The U.S. foreclosure rate improved in January!!!?? Rubbish

The U.S. foreclosure rate improved in January

“Only” 274,399 foreclosure filings hit the books in January, down 10% from the month before.

Wait… what’s this?
According to RealtyTrac, most of decline was due to a moratorium on foreclosures at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Ah, we see the logic. If you don’t allow foreclosures to take place, the problem will just go away.

Impeccable.

Bummer. Foreclosures were still up 18% annually. The trend remains.