51,000 completed foreclosures in September
According to CoreLogic, in September, the number of completed foreclosures fell 0.7 percent compared to August’s revised numbers, but are down a dramatic 39 percent compared to September 2012. September saw little movement for the month, with 51,000 foreclosures completed, still higher than the monthly average of 21,000 between 2000 and 2006.
CoreLogic reports that since the housing crash began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.6 million completed foreclosures across the country.
Under one million homes now in the foreclosure process
As of September 2013, roughly 902,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, compared to 1.4 million in September 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 33 percent, also down 3.3 percent for the month. The foreclosure inventory as of September 2013 represented 2.3 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared to 3.2 percent in September 2012.
“The foreclosure inventory continues to decline, now standing at an early 2009 level,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Just over 900,000 properties remain in the inventory, two thirds of them in judicial states where the foreclosure process is typically slower. Consequently, the pace of overall improvement in the inventory will slow down and distressed assets will cast a long shadow over housing markets in states with judicial foreclosure.”
“The number of seriously delinquent mortgages continues to drop across the country at a rapid rate with every state showing year-over-year declines in foreclosure inventory,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but these are encouraging signs for a return to a healthier housing market in the U.S.”
Regional performance varied
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in September 2013 were: Florida (115,000), California (52,000), Texas (43,000), Michigan (40,000), and Georgia (39,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in September 2013 were: District of Columbia (52), North Dakota (454), Hawaii (490), West Virginia (521), and Wyoming (719).
The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (7.4 percent), New Jersey (6.5 percent), New York (4.8 percent), Maine (4.0 percent) and Connecticut (3.7 percent).
The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.4 percent), Alaska (0.6 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.7 percent), and Colorado (0.7 percent).
