CHICAGO (MarketWatch)—Foreclosure activity dropped in September to the lowest level since July 2007, RealtyTrac reported on Thursday.

Activity was down 7% compared with August, and down 16% compared with a year ago, the online foreclosure marketplace reported. Foreclosure filings were reported on 180,427 U.S. properties. Filings include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

The number of properties entering the foreclosure process dropped 12% over the month and 15% over the year. It’s the second month in a row that foreclosure starts were down over the year.

“We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas, but that other shoe is instead being carefully lowered to the floor and therefore making little noise in the housing market—at least at a national level,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, in a news release.

“Make no mistake, however, the other shoe is dropping quite loudly in certain states, primarily those where foreclosure activity was held back the most last year.”

Twenty of the 24 states with a non-judicial foreclosure process had annual decreases in foreclosure activity in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac. Meanwhile, activity increased in 14 out of the 26 states that have a judicial foreclosure process.

Florida now has the highest foreclosure rate in the country. Foreclosure starts in the state increased 24% in September, compared with a year ago. That’s the 11th month in a row Florida had an annual increase in starts.