CoreLogic: January Foreclosures Up, But Inventory Continues to Decrease

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., reported 38,000 completed foreclosures in January, a 16 percent increase from December, but said the nation’s foreclosure inventory continued its steady drop.

CoreLogic said the 38,000 completed January foreclosures compared to 33,000 in December. From a year ago, completed foreclosures fell by 16.2 percent, from 46,000, and was down by nearly 68,000 from the Sept. 2010 peak (117,743).

The company’s National Foreclosure Report also said the nation’s foreclosure inventory declined by 21.7 percent. The national foreclosure inventory included 456,000, or 1.2 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared to 583,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, a year ago. The January foreclosure inventory rate has been steady at 1.2 percent since October 2015 and is the lowest for any month since November 2007.

CoreLogic said since the financial crisis began in September 2008 6.1 million completed foreclosures have taken place; since homeownership rates peaked in second quarter 2004, 8.2 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.

CoreLogic also reported mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 22.5 percent over the past year, at 1.2 million mortgages, or 3.2 percent.

“The improvement in distressed properties continues across the country in every state, which is contributing to the lack of stock of available homes and resulting price escalation in many markets,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “So far the trend toward lower delinquency and foreclosures has been immune from shocks from such things as the collapse in oil prices attesting to the durability of the housing recovery.”

Other report highlights:
–Before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.
–On a month-over-month basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 1.6 percent in January 2016 compared to December 2015.
–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January were Florida (74,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (29,000), California (25,000) and Ohio (24,000). These states accounted for nearly half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures were the District of Columbia (97), North Dakota (298), Wyoming (551), West Virginia (589) and Alaska (707).
–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rates in January: New Jersey (4.3 percent), New York (3.5 percent), Hawaii (2.4 percent), Florida (2.3 percent) and the District of Columbia (2.3 percent).
–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in January: Alaska (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.4 percent), Colorado (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent) and Utah (0.4 percent).