CoreLogic: 37,000 Completed Foreclosures in August

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., said completed foreclosures fell by 42 percent in August from a year ago and by nearly 70 percent from the September 2010 peak.

The company’s monthly National Foreclosure Report noted 37,000 completed foreclosures in August, down from 64,000 a year ago and well below the peak of 188,221 in 2010. The nationwide foreclosure inventory declined by 29.6 percent to 351,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 499,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, a year ago. The August foreclosure inventory rate fell to its lowest level since July 2007.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, CoreLogic reported 6.4 million completed foreclosures nationally; since homeownership rates peaked in second quarter 2004 8.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.

CoreLogic also reported mortgages in serious delinquency (90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 20.6 percent a year ago to 1.1 million mortgages, or 2.8 percent, the lowest level since September 2007. The decline was geographically broad with decreases in serious delinquency in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

“The large decline in the distressed inventory has been one of the drivers of steady home price growth which helps Americans increase their home equity to support increased spending or cushion future economic risk,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic.

Other report highlights:

–On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures increased by 7.7 percent to 37,000 in August from the 34,000 in July. 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.

–On a month-over-month basis, the August foreclosure inventory fell by 3.2 percent from July.

–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in August were Florida (55,000), Texas (27,000), Ohio (23,000), California (22,000) and Georgia (21,000).These states account for 35 percent of completed foreclosures nationally.

–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in August were the District of Columbia (212), North Dakota (341), West Virginia (469), Alaska (624) and Montana (717).

–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rate in August were New Jersey (3.2 percent), New York (2.9 percent), Maine (1.8 percent), Hawaii (1.8 percent) and the District of Columbia (1.8 percent).

–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in August were Colorado (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.3 percent), Arizona (0.3 percent), Utah (0.3 percent) and Michigan (0.3 percent).

“With the foreclosure inventory now under 1 percent nationally, the need to boost single family housing stocks through new construction will become more acute in the coming months and years,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.