Moratoriums reduce foreclosure filings by 7% -- at least temporarily

Finally, some good news for the holidays, but as always these day, with grain of salt. Foreclosure filings dropped 7% in November from the previous month according to RealtyTrac. That's one in every 488 households nationwide. It's up from last November's number by 28%. Most of the reduction in the number of foreclosures can be credited to the moratoriums on foreclosures by Fannie (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie (NYSE: FRE), as well as by some of the banks the FDIC took over.

Still, 78,179 families lost their home to foreclosure in November. That is down by 8% from the number of families that lost their homes in October - 84,868. A total of 1,014,618 homes have been lost because of foreclosure since this crisis started in August 2007.

You'll probably see more good news in December as the foreclosure moratoriums continue, but January will likely be another story. The idea behind these moratoriums is that people find a way to avoid foreclosure through mortgage modification or refinance. That may be true and possible when the economy isn't in the sorry state it is.