U.S. Foreclosure Inventory Down 31 Percent Annually

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According to CoreLogic's September 2016 National Foreclosure Report, U.S. foreclosure inventory declined by 31.1 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 7.0 percent compared with September 2015. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 39,000 in September 2015 to 36,000 in September 2016, representing a decrease of 69.7 percent from the peak of 118,222 in September 2010.

The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process and completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.4 million completed foreclosures nationally, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 8.5 million homes lost to foreclosure.

As of September 2016, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 340,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage, compared with 493,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, in September 2015.

CoreLogic also reports that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 24.8 percent from September 2015 to September 2016, with 1 million mortgages, or 2.6 percent, in serious delinquency, the lowest level since August 2007. The decline was geographically broad with decreases in serious delinquency in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

"September's serious delinquency rate dropped by 25 percent compared to a year earlier, the third consecutive monthly acceleration in the rate of decline," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "This improvement is continued evidence of the recovery in the housing market, especially given that the decreases were fairly uniform in most cities across the country."

"Completed foreclosures have fallen by a total of more than 100,000 homes during the 12 months prior to September 2016," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "The decline in foreclosures is one of the drivers in the drop in vacancies, which is positive for homeowners and communities. Heading into 2017 we see that prices, performance and production - the three most important drivers of the real estate market - are all improving."

Additional September 2016 highlights:

• On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures increased by 5.2 percent to 36,000 in September 2016 from the 34,000 reported for August 2016. 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.

• On a month-over-month basis, the September 2016 foreclosure inventory was down 3.1 percent compared with August 2016.

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in September 2016 were Florida (53,000), Texas (27,000), Michigan (24,000), Ohio (23,000) and Georgia (21,000). These five states accounted for 36 percent of completed foreclosures nationally.

• Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in September 2016: the District of Columbia (186), North Dakota (338), West Virginia (447), Alaska (643) and Montana (701).

• Four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory rate in September 2016: New Jersey (3.0 percent), New York (2.7 percent), Maine (1.8 percent), Hawaii (1.8 percent) and the District of Columbia (1.6 percent).

• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in September 2016 were Colorado (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.3 percent), Arizona (0.3 percent), Michigan (0.3 percent) and Utah (0.3).