Foreclosure inventory nationwide continued to shrink as the number of homes lost to foreclosure declined in January, according to data from CoreLogic.
The Irvine, Calif.-based analytic firm revealed that foreclosure inventory through January was down 33.2% compared to a year earlier with 549,000 homes in some stage of foreclosure. In January 2014, foreclosure inventory consisted of 822,000 homes.
CoreLogic said foreclosure inventory is made up of 1.4% of all homes with a mortgage. New Jersey, New York, Florida, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes.
Foreclosure inventory is falling because fewer homes are finalizing the
Before the housing crisis began in 2007, CoreLogic said that completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month from 2000 to 2006.
The five states with the greatest number of completed foreclosures for the last 12 months ending in January were Florida (111,000), Michigan (51,000), Texas (34,000), California (30,000) and Georgia (28,000). These states account for nearly half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
Additionally, the number of mortgages in serious delinquency declined 23.8% from a year ago with 1.5 million deemed to be 90 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure or REO. This January figure is the lowest delinquency rate since June 2008,
"Job growth and home value appreciation have worked to push the serious delinquency rate to the lowest since mid-2008 and foreclosures down by one-third from a year ago," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.
"With economic growth in 2015 expected to be better than last year, further declines in both delinquencies and foreclosures are projected for this year."
