CoreLogic: Foreclosures, Inventories Continue Declines

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said the U.S. foreclosure inventory in October fell by 27.1 percent from a year ago, while completed foreclosures fell by 21.5 percent over the same period.  

The company’s October National Foreclosure Report said completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 51,000 in October 2014 to 37,000 this past October. The number of completed foreclosures in October fell by 68.2 percent from its peak of 117,543 in September 2010.  

As of October, the national foreclosure inventory included 463,000, or 1.2 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared to 589,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, in October 2014. This is lowest rate since November 2007. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, 6 million completed foreclosures have taken place; since homeownership rates peaked in second quarter 2004, 8 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.  

CoreLogic also reported the number of mortgages in serious delinquency declined by 19.7 percent from a year ago, with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.4 percent, in this category. This is the lowest serious delinquency rate since December 2007.  

“Improved economic conditions and more foreclosure completions have pushed the foreclosure rate lower,” said CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft. “The national unemployment rate declined to 5.0 percent in October, the lowest since December 2007, and the CoreLogic national Home Price Index has risen 37 percent from its trough.”  

Other report highlights:

–On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased by 12.3 percent to 37,000 from 43,000 reported in September. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October were Florida (86,000), Michigan (59,000), Texas (30,000), Georgia (25,000) and California (24,000).These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.

–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October: the District of Columbia (76), North Dakota (239), Wyoming (515), West Virginia (571) and Hawaii (700).

–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rate in October: New Jersey (4.5 percent), New York (3.6 percent), Hawaii (2.5 percent), Florida (2.5 percent) and the District of Columbia (2.3 percent).

–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in October: Alaska (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent), Minnesota (0.4 percent), North Dakota (0.4 percent) and Colorado (0.4 percent).  

“We are heading into 2016 with the lowest foreclosure inventory in eight years thanks to escalating home values and progressive improvement in the U.S. economy,” said CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi. “A large proportion of the remaining foreclosure inventory is clustered in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Equally encouraging is the drop in mortgage delinquency rates reflecting the stronger labor market and tighter underwriting since 2009.”