Home Foreclosures Declining, but Remain High

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (115,000), Michigan (50,000), California (46,000), Texas (43,000) and Georgia (39,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through October were District of Columbia (57), North Dakota (411), Hawaii (491), West Virginia (514) and Wyoming (694).

The five states with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties as a percentage of mortgaged properties are Florida (7.1%), New Jersey (6.7%), New York (4.9%), Maine (3.8%) and Connecticut (3.7%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Wyoming (0.4%), Alaska (0.6%), Nebraska (0.6%), North Dakota (0.7%) and Colorado (0.7%).

CoreLogic’s CEO noted:

The scourge of an elevated foreclosure inventory is easing. In October, every state posted a year-over-year decline in completed foreclosures, which is positive news. Additionally, the rate of serious delinquencies, which fell more than 25% year over year, is the at the lowest level in nearly five years, which is great news as we head into a new year.

The research firm’s chief economist noted, however, “There are almost 900,000 properties still in foreclosure, but a normal level would be only a quarter of the current stock.”

CoreLogic notes that the national foreclosure inventory is down 31% since October 2012 and down 2.9% month-over-month. That marks the 24th consecutive month of year-over-year declines.