CoreLogic: 34,000 Completed July Foreclosures

CoreLogic, Irvine, Calif., reported 34,000 completed foreclosures in July, a 7 percent decrease from June and a 16.5 percent decline from a year ago (41,000).

The company’s monthly National Foreclosure Report said completed foreclosures fell by 71.2 percent from their September 2010 peak (118,000). Before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006. 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.

The report noted the foreclosure inventory fell by 3.9 percent in July to 355,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage, compared with 501,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, in July 2015. The July 2016 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since August 2007.

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 17.3 percent from a year ago, to 1.1 million mortgages, or 2.9 percent. The decline was geographically broad, with declines in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

“Loan modifications, foreclosures, and stronger housing and labor markets have each played a role in bringing the foreclosure rate to the lowest level in nine years,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The U.S. Treasury’s Making Home Affordable program has contributed to the decline through permanent modifications, forbearance and foreclosure alternatives which have assisted 2.5 million homeowners with first mortgages at risk of foreclosure since 2009.”

Other report highlights:

–States with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in July were Florida (57,000), Michigan (45,000), Texas (27,000), Ohio (23,000) and California (21,000). These five states account for almost 40 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.
–States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures: The District of Columbia (207), North Dakota (324), West Virginia (488), Alaska (635) and Montana (700).
–States with the highest foreclosure inventory rate: New Jersey (3.3 percent), New York (3 percent), Hawaii (1.8 percent), Maine (1.8 percent) and the District of Columbia (1.8 percent).
–States with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate were Colorado (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.3 percent), Utah (0.3 percent), Arizona (0.3 percent) and Alaska (0.3 percent).

“Foreclosure rates declined year over year in all states except North Dakota, which experienced a 6 percent increase in its foreclosure inventory related to the drop in energy-related jobs,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Importantly, judicial states like New Jersey and New York have continued to work through their large inventory of homes in foreclosure proceedings.”