In the month of December 2014, some 39,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 4.9% month-over-month and down 13.7% from a total of 46,000 in December of 2013, according to CoreLogic. The research firm also notes that the current foreclosure inventory totals 1.4% of all homes with a mortgage in the United States, down from 2.1% in December of 2013.

The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals 552,000, compared with 840,000 in December 2013. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 34.3%.

The four states with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties as a percentage of mortgaged properties were New Jersey (5.2%), New York (4%), Florida (3.7%) and Hawaii (2.7%), followed by the District of Columbia (2.4%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties were Alaska (0.3%), Nebraska (0.4%), North Dakota (0.4%), Arizona (0.5%) and Montana (0.5%).

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (118,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (35,000), California (29,000) and Ohio (28,000). The fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through December happened in South Dakota (40), District of Columbia (61), North Dakota (327), West Virginia (500) and Wyoming (551).

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CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist said:

In 2014, the annual sum of completed foreclosures declined 15 percent from the 662,000 reported in 2013. Completed foreclosures last year were less than half the 1.2 million peak in 2010, but remain twice the level of normal activity over 10 years ago.

According to CoreLogic, the 12-month total of completed foreclosures remains at its lowest level in nearly seven years and has declined every month for the past 38 months.

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