41,000 Home Foreclosures in October, Down 65 Percent from 2010 Peak

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According to CoreLogic's October National Foreclosure Report, for the month of October 2014 there were 41,000 completed U.S. foreclosures nationally, down from 55,000 in October 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 26.4 percent and down 65 percent from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures were down by 34.1 percent from the 62,000 reported in September 2014. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.3 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 7 million homes lost to foreclosure.

As of October 2014, approximately 605,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 875,000 in October 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 30.9 percent and representing 36 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of October 2014 made up 1.6 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.2 percent in October 2013. On a month-over-month basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 2.1 percent from September 2014. The current foreclosure rate of 1.6 percent is the lowest inventory level since May 2008.

"While there has been a large improvement in the reduction of foreclosure inventory, completed foreclosures remain high and serve as one of the obstacles to new single-family construction," said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic. "Until the flow of completed foreclosures declines to normal levels, new-home construction will not pick up because builders have little incentive to compete with foreclosure stock."

"The foreclosure inventory is less than 2 percent and seriously delinquent loans are trending lower right now," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "At current rates, we can expect the foreclosure inventory to slip below 500,000 units during 2015."

Highlights as of October 2014:

• October represents 25 consecutive months of year-over-year double-digit declines in the inventory of foreclosed homes.

• All but one state and the District of Columbia posted double-digit declines in foreclosure inventory year over year; West Virginia saw a decline of only 8.9 percent, and the District of Columbia saw a 17.3 percent increase.

• Nineteen states showed declines in year-over-year foreclosure inventory of greater than 30 percent, with Florida (-44.9 percent) and Utah (-41.6 percent) experiencing the largest declines.

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2014 were: Florida (118,000), Michigan (45,000), Texas (36,000), California (29,000) and Georgia (28,000).These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.

• Four states and the District of Columbia experienced the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2014: South Dakota (59), District of Columbia (70), North Dakota (257), West Virginia (515) and Wyoming (574).

• The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: New Jersey (5.5 percent), Florida (4.1 percent), New York (4.1 percent), Hawaii (2.9 percent) and Maine (2.6 percent).

• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Alaska (0.4 percent), Minnesota (0.5 percent), Nebraska (0.5 percent), North Dakota (0.5 percent) and Wyoming (0.5 percent).