In January 2015, 43,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, up 14.7% month-over-month and down 22.5% from a total of 55,000 in January 2014, 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 549,000, compared with 822,000 in January 2014. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 33.2%.

The four states and the District of Columbia with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (5.2%), New York (4.0%), Florida (3.5%), Hawaii (2.7%) and D.C. (2.5%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are 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 (111,000), Michigan (51,000), Texas (34,000), California (30,000) and Georgia (28,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the 12 months through January were South Dakota (2), District of Columbia (66), North Dakota (336), West Virginia (511) and Wyoming (532).

CoreLogic’s chief economist said:

Job growth and home-value appreciation have worked to push the serious delinquency rate to the lowest since mid-2008 and foreclosures down by one-third from a year ago. With economic growth in 2015 expected to be better than last years, further declines in both delinquencies and foreclosures are projected for this year.

According to CoreLogic, the current foreclosure rate of 1.4% is the lowest since March of 2008 and the foreclosure inventory has declined every month for the past 39 months.

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