37,000 Completed U.S. Home Foreclosures in August

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National Foreclosure Inventory Down 29.6 Percent Annually
 
According to CoreLogic's August 2016 National Foreclosure Report , U.S. home foreclosure inventory declined by 29.6 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 42.4 percent compared with August 2015. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 64,000 in August 2015 to 37,000 in August 2016, representing a decrease of 69 percent from the peak of 118,221 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 August 2016, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 351,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 499,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, in August 2015. The August 2016 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest it's been since July 2007.

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 20.6 percent from August 2015 to August 2016, with 1.1 million mortgages, or 2.8 percent, the lowest level since September 2007. The decline was geographically broad with decreases in serious delinquency in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

"Foreclosure inventory fell by 30 percent from the previous year, the largest year-over-year decline since January 2015," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "The large decline in the distressed inventory has been one of the drivers of steady home price growth which helps Americans increase their home equity to support increased spending or cushion future economic risk."

"Foreclosure rates and serious delinquency continued to trend down in August as real estate markets across many parts of the U.S. exhibit strong demand growth and rising prices," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "With the foreclosure inventory now under 1 percent nationally, the need to boost single-family housing stocks through new construction will become more acute in the coming months and years."

Additional August 2016 foreclosure highlights include:

• On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures increased by 7.7 percent to 37,000 in August 2016 from the 34,000 reported for July 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 August 2016 foreclosure inventory was down 3.2 percent compared with July 2016.

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months ending in August 2016 were Florida (55,000), Texas (27,000), Ohio (23,000), California (22,000) and Georgia (21,000).These five states account for about 35 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 August 2016: the District of Columbia (212), North Dakota (341), West Virginia (469), Alaska (624) and Montana (717).

• Four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory rate in August 2016: New Jersey (3.2 percent), New York (2.9 percent), Maine (1.8 percent), Hawaii (1.8 percent) and the District of Columbia (1.8 percent).

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