Foreclosures drop by nearly a third

Completed U.S. foreclosures dropped more than 30% between October of 2012 and October of 2013

Completed U.S. foreclosures dropped more than 30% between October of 2012 and October of 2013, according to data released Monday.

There were 68,000 completed foreclosures in October of 2012, according to CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report, which compiles data on completed foreclosures and foreclosure inventory. In October 2013, that number was down to 48,000 – a 31% decrease. October foreclosures were also down 25.6% from September’s revised level of 64,000, CoreLogic reported.

Since the housing crisis began, there have been about 4.6 million U.S. homes lost to foreclosure, according to CoreLogic – and although foreclosures have been dropping, they’re still high compared to pre-crisis averages. Between 2000 and 2006, completed foreclosures averaged about 21,000 per month nationwide, according to CoreLogic.

“Year over year, the foreclosure inventory, as a percentage of all homes with a mortgage, has declined almost a full percentage point to 2.2 percent,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This is good news for the housing and mortgage finance markets, but the rate remains elevated relative to the pre-crisis level of about 0.6 percent. There are almost 900,000 properties still in foreclosure, but a normal level would be only a quarter of the current stock.”

Florida had the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October at 115,000, followed by Michigan (50,000), California (46,000), Texas (43,000) and Georgia (39,000). Those states accounted for nearly half of all foreclosures nationwide, CoreLogic reported.
Florida also had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes at 7.1%, followed by New Jersey (6.7%), New York (4.9%), Maine (3.8%) and Connecticut (3.7%).

The District of Columbia had the lowest number of foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October with 57, followed by North Dakota (411), Hawaii (491), West Virginia (514) and Wyoming (694).

Wyoming had the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes at 0.4%, followed by Alaska and Nebraska (0.6%) and North Dakota and Colorado (0.7%).