CoreLogic has released its December National Foreclosure Report, which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the national foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 620,111 completed foreclosures across the country in 2013 compared to 820,498 in 2012, a decrease of 24 percent. For the month of December, there were 45,000 completed foreclosures, down from 52,000 in December 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 14 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 4.1 percent, from 47,000 reported in November 2013.
“The foreclosure inventory fell by more than 30 percent in December on a year-over-year basis, twice the decline from a year ago,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The decline indicates that the distressed foreclosure inventory is healing at an accelerating rate heading into 2014.”
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 4.8 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 December 2013, approximately 837,000 homes in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.2 million in December 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 31 percent. The foreclosure inventory as of December 2013 represented 2.1 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared to three percent in December 2012. The foreclosure inventory was down 2.7 percent from November 2013 to December 2013.
“Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States. Higher home prices and lower shadow inventory levels, together with a slowly improving economy, are hopeful signals that we are turning a long-awaited corner," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow.”
Highlights as of December 2013:
►The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2013 were Florida (119,000), Michigan (53,000), California (39,000), Texas (39,000) and Georgia (35,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
►The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2013 were District of Columbia (63), North Dakota (417), Hawaii (493), West Virginia (505) and Wyoming (759).
►The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida (6.7 percent), New Jersey (6.5 percent), New York (4.9 percent), Connecticut (3.6 percent) and Maine (3.6 percent).
►The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Wyoming (0.4 percent), Alaska (0.5 percent), North Dakota (0.6 percent), Colorado (0.6 percent) and Nebraska (0.6 percent).
