In the month of November, 55,000 U.S. homes were foreclosed, down from 59,000 in October and down from 72,000 in November 2011, according to research firm CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX). While an improvement, the number of foreclosures is still well above the 2000-2006 average of 21,000 foreclosures per month. CoreLogic notes that since September 2008, some 4 million foreclosures have been completed in the U.S.

The five states with the highest number of foreclosures were California (102,000), Florida (94,000), Michigan (75,000), Texas (58,000), and Georgia (52,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in November were South Dakota (10), District of Columbia (62), Hawaii (415), North Dakota (491), and Maine (597).

The five states with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties are Florid (10.4%), New Jersey (7.3%), New York (5.1%), Nevada (4.7%), and Illinois (4.7%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Wyoming (0.4%), Alaska (0.7%), North Dakota (0.7%), Nebraska (0.8%), and South Dakota (1%).

In a report published yesterday on the “shadow inventory” of U.S. homes, CoreLogic noted that at the end of October there were 2.3 million properties that were seriously delinquent, in foreclosure, or owned by mortgage services and not listed on the multiple listing services. Shadow inventory fell 12.3% year-over-year.

Taken together, one may fairly conclude that the housing recovery is very likely to continue its slow climb back.

Paul Ausick

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