CoreLogic: Foreclosures, Inventory Continue Trend Toward Normal

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said completed foreclosures continued to trend downward, with the nation’s foreclosure inventory falling to its lowest rate in nine years.

The company’s February National Foreclosure Report showed completed foreclosures fell to 34,000 in February, down by 14 percent from January (39,000) and down by 12 percent from a year ago (38,000). Completed foreclosures in February fell by 71.3 percent from the peak of 117,776 in September 2010. By comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

CoreLogic also reported the foreclosure inventory fell by 2.3 percent to a post-crisis low, to 434,000, or 1.1 percent, of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 571,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, a year ago. The February foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, CoreLogic reported 6.2 million completed foreclosures; since homeownership rates peaked in 2004, 8.2 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.

The report noted mortgages in serious delinquency declined by 19.9 percent from a year ago, to 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.2 percent, in this category. The February serious delinquency rate was the lowest in eight years, since November 2007.

“Job creation averaged 207,000 during the first two months of 2016, and incomes grew over the past year,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. “More income and improved household finances have helped bring serious delinquency rates down in nearly every state.”

Other report data:

–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in February were Florida (72,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (29,000), California (25,000) and Ohio (23,000). These five states accounted for nearly half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures: The District of Columbia (113), North Dakota (312), Wyoming (574), West Virginia (627) and Alaska (682).
–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rates: New Jersey (4.0 percent), New York (3.4 percent), Hawaii (2.3 percent), Florida (2.2 percent) and the District of Columbia (2.2 percent).
–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate: Alaska (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent), Colorado (0.4 percent) and Utah (0.4 percent).

“Home price gains have clearly been a driving force in building positive equity for homeowners,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Longer term, we anticipate a better balance of supply with demand in many markets which will help sustain heathy and affordable home values into the future.”