Housing recovery signals are ongoing as CoreLogic reported fewer distressed properties are becoming foreclosures and the overall inventory is falling, too.
In April, the Irvine, Calif.-based analytic firm said 52,000 foreclosures were completed nationwide, down 10,000, or 16%, from a year ago. Prior to the downfall of the housing market, about 21,000 foreclosures were processed per month between 2000 and 2006.
Meanwhile, foreclosure inventory also continues to decline as approximately 1.1 million homes in the U.S. were in some stage of foreclosure. Last April, 1.5 million housing units made up the foreclosure inventory.
“The shadow of foreclosure and distress continues to fade, with the annualized sum of completed foreclosures having declined for 17 straight months,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for
Fleming added that six states saw their foreclosure inventory drop more than 40% year-over-year, while Arizona and California had declines of at least 50%.
The five states that had the highest number of completed foreclosures for the last 12 months ending in April 2013 were Florida (102,000), California (79,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (53,000) and Georgia (47,000). These states accounted for approximately half of all completed foreclosures.
Additionally, foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes was greatest in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Maine and Nevada at 9.5%, 7.4%, 5.1%, 4.4% and 4.3%, respectively.
“Fewer distressed properties combined with improving home prices and a pickup in home purchases are significant signals that the ongoing recovery in the housing and mortgage markets continue to gather steam,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.
