CoreLogic has released its October National Foreclosure Report which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the national foreclosure inventory, which found that there were 48,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in October 2013, down from 68,000 in October 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 30 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 25.6 percent, from 64,000 reported in September.
Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.6 million completed foreclosures across the country. As a basis of comparison, prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.
As of October 2013, approximately 879,000 homes in the U.S. were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.3 million in October 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 31 percent. The foreclosure inventory as of October 2013 represented 2.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared to 3.1 percent in October 2012. The foreclosure inventory was down 2.9 percent from September 2013 to October 2013.
“Year over year, the foreclosure inventory, as a percentage of all homes with a mortgage, has declined almost a full percentage point to 2.2 percent,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This is good news for the housing and mortgage finance markets, but the rate remains elevated relative to the pre-crisis level of about 0.6 percent. There are almost 900,000 properties still in foreclosure, but a normal level would be only a quarter of the current stock.”
“The scourge of an elevated foreclosure inventory is easing. In October, every state posted a year-over-year decline in completed foreclosures, which is positive news,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Additionally, the rate of serious delinquencies, which fell more than 25 percent year over year, is at the lowest level in nearly five years, which is great news as we head into a new year.”
Highlights as of October 2013:
►The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2013 were: Florida (115,000), Michigan (50,000), California (46,000), Texas (43,000) and Georgia (39,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
►The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2013 were: District of Columbia (57), North Dakota (411), Hawaii (491), West Virginia (514) and Wyoming (694).
►The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida (7.1 percent), New Jersey (6.7 percent), New York (4.9 percent), Maine (3.8 percent) and Connecticut (3.7 percent).
►The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.4 percent), Alaska (0.6 percent), Nebraska (0.6 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent) and Colorado (0.7 percent).
