In the month of April, 46,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 0.4% month-over-month, but down 18% from 56,000 in April 2013, according to research firm CoreLogic. While an improvement, the number of foreclosures is still more than double the 2000 to 2006 average of 21,000 foreclosures per month. CoreLogic notes that since September 2008, some 5 million foreclosures have been completed in the United States.

CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist noted:

Over the last 12 months, completed foreclosures fell to 599,000, the lowest level since the Great Recession began in 2007. At the current pace of completed foreclosures, and given the current foreclosure inventory, it will take 14 months to move all of the foreclosed inventory through the pipeline.

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (121,000), Michigan (46,000), Texas (38,000), California (33,000) and Georgia (32,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through April were District of Columbia (68), North Dakota (352), West Virginia (517), Wyoming (714) and Alaska (844).

The five states with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (6%), Florida (5.4%), New York (4.6%), Hawaii (3.1%) and Maine (3%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Alaska (0.4%), Wyoming (0.4%), North Dakota (0.5%), Nebraska (0.5%) and Minnesota (0.5%).

The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals 694,000, compared with 1.1 million in April a year ago. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 35%, compared with April 2013, and a 4.7% decline month-over-month. That marks the 30th consecutive month posting a year-over-year decline in the inventory of foreclosed homes.

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