It looks like the December foreclosure figures were overshadowed by reports of an 81 percent increase in 2008. Just a quick analysis shows that those figures should have been given a little more priority by media outlets as many states reflected a decrease or very slight increases in filings for the month, a great sign in the midst of a bedraggled economy.

In fact, there was only a trickle of articles mentioning a decrease for the month of December, at least according to recent headlines. Most continued to report increases in their perspective city or sate.

According to reports, some of the states that showed a decrease or only slight increases in foreclosures filings include:

Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming.

While many of the states mentioned normally have relatively low foreclosure rates, there are a couple states that are worth noting.

The first of these is Florida. According to a recent report published from a foreclosure listing company, Florida has a total of 7 cities listed in the top 100 U.S. metro foreclosure areas. All of these cities appear in the top 25. Given the recent December figure of only a 3 percent increase, one would assume that this would be newsworthy, but apparently this is not the case.

A couple more states that should have received some attention on the foreclosure front are Michigan and Ohio. These two states have 2 and 6 cities, respectively, on the top 100 U.S metro foreclosure list. Michigan foreclosure rates in December decreased by 7 percent. With some of its cities gaining national attention for its economic strain, this figure certainly should have made a more prominent appearance in the press.

As for Ohio, with its six cities in the top 35 of the list, it also reflected a decrease. Ohio foreclosures decreased over 12 percent in December from November. Again, there were no articles reporting the decrease.