U.S. Home Foreclosure Inventory Down 35.5 Percent Annually

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According to CoreLogic's latest National Foreclosure Report, for the month of November 2014, there were 41,000 completed foreclosures nationally, down from 46,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 9.6 percent and down 64 percent from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures were down 12.6 percent from the 47,000 reported in October 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 5.5 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 November 2014, approximately 567,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 880,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35.5 percent and representing 37 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of November 2014 made up 1.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.2 percent in November 2013. On a month-over-month basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 3.3 percent from October 2014. The current foreclosure rate of 1.5 percent is the lowest inventory level since March 2008.

"The foreclosure rate fell in every state, with only the District of Columbia seeing a small increase," said Molly Boesel, senior economist. "However, some states still have foreclosure rates of more than twice the national rate. While the national level of foreclosures may normalize in the next two years, there will always be the potential for some pockets of distress in the mortgage market."

"The number of completed foreclosures over the past twelve months-just under 575,000-are at the lowest level in seven years. This month's figure of 41,000 foreclosures is in line levels experienced in the second half of 2007, which was the very beginning of the housing crisis," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "At current foreclosure rates, we expect to see the foreclosure inventory in the U.S. to drop below 500,000 homes sometime in the first quarter of 2015 which would be another milestone in the healing of the housing market."

Highlights as of November 2014:

• November represents 26 consecutive months of double-digit declines in the year-over-year percent change in the foreclosure inventory.

• All states posted double-digit declines in foreclosure inventory year over year; but the District of Columbia saw a 17.8 percent increase.

• Thirty-five states showed declines in year-over-year foreclosure inventory of greater than 30 percent, with the largest declines in Florida (-48.1 percent) and Utah (-48.9 percent).

• The national serious delinquency rate was 4.0 percent in November, which is down 22.8 percent from November 2013 and the lowest rate since June 2008.

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in November 2014 were: Florida (118,000), Michigan (50,000), Texas (36,000), California (29,000) and Ohio (29,000). 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 November 2014: South Dakota (54), District of Columbia (62), North Dakota (298), West Virginia (534) and Wyoming (573).

• Four states and the District of Columbia experienced the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes: New Jersey (5.3 percent), New York (4.1 percent), Florida (3.9 percent), Hawaii (2.8 percent) and District of Columbia (2.4 percent).

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