As the housing market continues to recover, the foreclosure inventory is declining quickly, data from a CoreLogic report revealed.
According to the Irvine, Calif.-based analytic firm’s National Foreclosure Report, there were 49,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in July. This is down 25% from a year ago and 8.6% on a
Prior to the housing crisis, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. But since September 2008, approximately 4.5 million homes across the country have been lost to foreclosure.
“Continued strength in the housing market will contribute to our outlook for ongoing improvement in the stock of distressed assets through the end of this year,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
As of July, about 949,000 U.S. homes were in some stage of foreclosure, representing 2.4% of all homes with mortgage. Last year at this time, the foreclosure inventory was 1.4 million housing units.
The five states that have the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (8.1%), New Jersey (5.9%), New York (4.7%), Connecticut (4.0%) and Maine (4.0%).
“Completed foreclosures and delinquency rates continued their rapid descent in July. Every state posted a year-over-year decline in foreclosures and serious delinquencies fell to the lowest level since December 2008,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Not surprisingly, nonjudicial states have come the farthest the fastest in reducing shadow inventory and lowering delinquency rates.”
