February Foreclosures Highest in Florida, Michigan, Texas

In the month of February, 34,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 2.6% month over month and down 10% from a total of 38,000 in February 2015, according to CoreLogic. The research firm notes that the current foreclosure inventory totals 1.1% of all homes with a mortgage in the United States, down from 1.5% in February of last year.

The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals approximately 434,000, compared with 571,000 in February 2015. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 23.9%, compared with February a year ago.

The four states and the District of Columbia with the largest foreclosed inventory as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (4.0%), New York (3.4%), Hawaii (2.3%), Florida (2.2%) and D.C. (2.2%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.4%), Colorado (0.4%), Arizona (0.4%) and Utah (0.4%).

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (72,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (29,000), California (25,000) and Ohio (25,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the prior 12 months through February were District of Columbia (113), North Dakota (312), Wyoming (574), West Virginia (627) and Alaska (682).
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CoreLogic’s chief economist said:

Job creation averaged 207,000 during the first two months of 2016, and incomes grew over the past year. More income and improved household finances have helped bring serious delinquency rates down in nearly every state. However, serious delinquency rates increased in North Dakota and West Virginia, two states affected by price declines for the energy fuel each produces.

The company’s CEO added:

Home price gains have clearly been a driving force in building positive equity for homeowners. Longer term, we anticipate a better balance of supply with demand in many markets which will help sustain healthy and affordable home values into the future.

Of the 10 largest U.S. metro areas, the foreclosure inventory was highest in the New York area, at 3.3%. The Miami metro area’s foreclosure inventory totaled 2.9%, and the Las Vegas area had the third-highest total at 1.7%. The lowest totals were posted in the San Francisco (0.2%) area and in Denver (0.3%).

Florida and Michigan posted year-over-year declines of more than 30% in foreclosure inventory. Florida’s foreclosure inventory has fallen nearly 38% in the past 12 months, and Michigan’s has dropped by nearly 34%.

According to CoreLogic, the current foreclosure rate of 1.1% is the same as the November 2007 rate, and the foreclosure inventory has declined every month for the past 52 months. Before the collapse in the housing market in 2007, the average number of foreclosures completed in a month was 21,000.