Foreclosure starts nationwide were at an 18-year low in August, another sign of the housing market’s recovery and a generally healthy economy.

That’s according to Black Knight’s “First Look” report for August, which found there were 36,200 starts during the month, down 23 percent year over year and a 7.65 percent month-over-month decline. It was the fewest foreclosure starts since December 2000.

Lis pendens – the first step in the foreclosure process in Connecticut – were the lowest for the month of August since 2004.

There were 443 lis pendens filed for single-family homes in the state last month, down 24 percent from the 585 filed in August 2018, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record.

There were 757 lis pendens filed for all residential property types, down 16 percent from the same month last year. August had the lowest number of lis pendens filed for all residential property types for the year so far.