CoreLogic: Foreclosures Down 23% from Year Ago
CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said completed foreclosures fell by nearly 23 percent in 2015 and by nearly 73 percent from its September 2010 peak.
The company’s December National Foreclosure Report said foreclosures dropped both month over month (to 32,000 in December from 34,000 in November) and year over year (to 32,000 from 41,000 in December 2014). The number of completed foreclosures in December was down 72.8 percent after peaking at 117,722 in September 2010. 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.
The report also said the foreclosure inventory declined by 23.8 percent from a year ago. As of December, the national foreclosure inventory included 433,000, or 1.1 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared to 568,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, a year ago. The December 2015 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.
Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, CoreLogic reported 6.1 million completed foreclosures; since homeownership rates peaked in second quarter 2004, there eight million homes have been lost to foreclosure.
CoreLogic also reported the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 23.3 percent from a year ago, with 1.2 million mortgages, or 3.2 percent, in this category. The serious delinquency rate is the lowest in eight years, since November 2007.
“While this is positive for the housing market overall, it also drives a decline in the inventory of affordable for-sale homes,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The lack of housing stock, particularly affordable inventory, is a growing issue and will limit a full housing recovery in the short to medium term.”
Other report highlights:
–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December were Florida (79,000), Michigan (50,000), Texas (30,000), Ohio (24,000) and Georgia (24,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures were the District of Columbia (81), North Dakota (220), Wyoming (541), West Virginia (560) and Alaska (700).
–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rate in December: New Jersey (4.2 percent), New York (3.5 percent), Hawaii (2.4 percent), the District of Columbia (2.3 percent) and Florida (2.3 percent).
–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in December: Alaska (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.3 percent), Colorado (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent) and Utah (0.4 percent).
The Mortgage Bankers Association will release its 4th Quarter National Delinquency on Thursday, Feb. 18 at the MBA National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla. MBA Vice President of Economics and Research Lynn Fisher and MBA Vice President of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh will provide insight. MBA NewsLink and MBA Servicing NewsLink will provide onsite coverage.
