Home Foreclosures Tick Up in August

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (111,000), Michigan (60,000), California (58,000), Texas (43,000) and Georgia (40,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through August were the District of Columbia (94), North Dakota (463), Hawaii (492), West Virginia (501) and Wyoming (723).

The five states with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties as a percentage of mortgaged properties are Florida (7.9%), New Jersey (6.2%), New York (4.9%), Maine (4.0%) and Connecticut (3.9%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Wyoming (0.4%), Alaska (0.6%), North Dakota (0.7%), Nebraska (0.7%) and Colorado (0.7%).

CoreLogic’s chief economist noted:

A surge in completed foreclosures and a rise in the foreclosure inventory is unlikely given continued house price improvements and shortages of supply in many markets.

The August report also includes quarterly data through July on the shadow inventory, defined as properties more than 90 days delinquent, in foreclosure or held as real-estate owned but not currently appearing on multiple listing services. The value of the U.S. shadow inventory is $293 billion, down from $380 billion year-over-year. There are 1.9 million properties in the shadow inventory, 22% lower than the number in July 2012. Five states — Florida, California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey — account for 43% of the country’s shadow inventory.