Foreclosure Inventory Shrinks by 31.1 Percent

The U.S. foreclosure inventory recorded a significant 31.1 percent year-over-year plummet in September, according to new data from CoreLogic. Completed foreclosures in September were down seven percent year-over-year, from 39,000 to 36,000.

The national foreclosure inventory included approximately 340,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage, in September. In comparison, the inventory included 493,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, one year earlier. Furthermore, the number of mortgages in serious delinquency fell 28.4 percent year-over-year in September, with one million mortgages, or 2.6 percent, in serious delinquency—the lowest level since August 2007.

On a month-over-month basis, however, completed foreclosures increased by 5.2 percent to from the 34,000 reported for August. But the September foreclosure inventory was down 3.1 percent compared with the previous month.

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in September—Florida (53,000), Texas (27,000), Michigan (24,000), Ohio (23,000) and Georgia (21,000)—accounted for 36 percent of completed foreclosures nationally.

"Completed foreclosures have fallen by a total of more than 100,000 homes during the 12 months prior to September 2016," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "The decline in foreclosures is one of the drivers in the drop in vacancies, which is positive for homeowners and communities. Heading into 2017 we see that prices, performance and production—the three most important drivers of the real estate market—are all improving."