CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics and business services, has released its National Foreclosure Report for the month of January, which provides monthly data on completed foreclosures, foreclosure inventory and 90-plus delinquency rates. There were 69,000 completed foreclosures in January 2012, compared to 80,000 in January 2011, and 65,000 in December 2011. The number of completed foreclosures for the previous 12 months was 860,128. From the start of the financial crisis in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.3 million completed foreclosures.
"We are encouraged by the noticeable progress we are seeing over the last several months in the mortgage industry," said Anand Nallathambi, chief executive officer of CoreLogic. "During the last several years the industry has faced enormous challenges working through difficult and complex issues. We are hopeful that these recent improvements are early signals of revitalization in the mortgage market."
Approximately 1.4 million homes, or 3.3 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the foreclosure inventory as of January 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.6 percent, in January 2011 and 1.4 million, or 3.4 percent, in December 2011. Nationally, the number of loans in the foreclosure inventory decreased by 145,000, or 9.5 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011. The foreclosure inventory is the stock of homes in the foreclosure process. A property moves into the foreclosure inventory when the mortgage servicer places the property into the foreclosure process after serious delinquency is reached and remains there until the foreclosure is completed. The foreclosure inventory is measured only against homes with an outstanding mortgage, rather than against all homes. Nationwide, roughly one third of homeowners own their homes outright.
The share of borrowers nationally that were more than 90 days late on their mortgage payment, including homes in foreclosure and real estate-owned (REO), fell to 7.2 percent in January 2012 from 7.8 percent in January 2011, but remained unchanged from December 2011.
The inventory of REO assets held by servicers nationwide grew faster in January than the pace of REO sales, as measured by the distressed clearing ratio. The distressed clearing ratio is calculated by dividing the number of REO sales by the number of completed foreclosures; the higher the ratio, the faster the pace of REO sales relative to the pace of completed foreclosures. The distressed clearing ratio for January 2012 was 0.69, down from 0.80 in December 2011.
"The pace of completed foreclosures is gradually increasing again, but the clearing ratio is falling as REO sales have slowed in the winter months. Judicial foreclosure states1 are continuing to process foreclosures more slowly than non-judicial foreclosure states," said Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic. "Non-judicial foreclosure states completed almost twice as many foreclosures per 1000 active loans as judicial foreclosure states in January."
The five states with the largest number of completed foreclosures for the twelve months ending in January 2012 were: California (155,000), Florida (86,000), Arizona (65,000), Michigan (65,000) and Texas (57,000). These five states account for 49.7 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.
The percentage of homeowners nationally who were more than 90 days late on their mortgage payments, including homes in foreclosure and REO, was 7.2 percent for January 2012 compared to 7.8 percent for January 2011, and 7.2 percent in December 2011.
The five states with the highest foreclosure rates were: Florida (11.8 percent), New Jersey (6.4 percent), Illinois (5.3 percent), Nevada (five percent) and New York (4.7 percent). The five states with the lowest foreclosure rates were: Wyoming (0.7 percent), Alaska (0.8 percent), North Dakota (0.8 percent), Nebraska (1.1 percent) and Texas (1.3 percent).
Of the top 100 markets, measured by Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) population, 32 are showing an increase in the foreclosure rate in January 2012 compared to a year ago, the same as from December 2011 when 32 of the top CBSAs were showing an increase in the foreclosure rate compared to December 2010.
