Southern Nevada foreclosures tumble as new law kicks in.

Banks are slamming the brakes on foreclosures in Las Vegas, and at first glance, the numbers are encouraging, even amazing.

Some 30 homes a month were hit with default notices in both August and July, compared to a monthly average of around 380 in the six months prior.

At the same time, creditors scheduled upcoming auctions for around 75 homes in July and 85 in August. Before that, they were scheduling an average of 235 auctions a month this year, according to housing tracker Attom Data Solutions.

Does all of this mean that Southern Nevada — the epicenter of America’s foreclosure crisis after the economy crashed — has (finally!) shed its repo woes? That the blue-taped foreclosure notices are, once and for all, disappearing from neighbors’ doors and windows?

My advice: Don’t get too excited.

The plummeting repo activity came after a new foreclosure law, Senate Bill 490, kicked in. Approved by the state Legislature this past session, the law took effect June 12 and made permanent the state’s Foreclosure Mediation Program, which had been scheduled to expire.