It’s not always a good thing to top the charts.

The cities of Merced and Stockton, ranked atop the nation’s list of highest foreclosure rates, are finally seeing declines in foreclosure activity though.

According to The Wall Street Journal, foreclosure filings were down 11 percent in Merced and declined in Stockton, Modesto and Vallejo, as well, according to a report from RealtyTrac, an Irvine-based foreclosure research firm, as reported by the Journal.

“Rising unemployment and a new variety of mortgage resets continued to gradually shift the nation’s foreclosure epicenters in the third quarter away from the hot spots of the last two years and toward some metro areas that had avoided the brunt of the first foreclosure wave,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, according to the Journal.