Oh well, this has been happening (for a while) over here, in Washington DC region. I'd be so surprised if these days, you put a contract to buy foreclosure, with "no" competition from other buyers! Via MarketWatch Real Estate Weekly.
A University of Michigan researcher is predicting that foreclosures will begin to fall next year, dropping from 2.75 million in 2009 to about 1.75 million in 2010 and 2011.
They will decline to less than an annual 1.5 million by 2012, said Dennis Capozza, professor of finance and real estate at Michigan's Ross School of Business. The drop in foreclosures will be due to better national and local economic conditions, including a strengthening economy, slower house-price depreciation and tighter underwriting of mortgages, he said.