Although still double the long-term average of 0.5 percent, the national foreclosure rate continued to fall to 1 percent in May, with many states seeing better outlooks than the national average in CoreLogic’s May 2016 National Foreclosure Report.
“Twenty-nine states had foreclosure rates below the national average, and all but North Dakota experienced declines in their foreclosure rate compared to the last year,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in a statement.
There were 38,000 completed foreclosures in May 2016, according to CoreLogic — up 5.5 percent from April 2016, but down 6.9 percent year-over-year. The seriously delinquency rate in the U.S. is also at its lowest rate in almost nine years, sitting at 2.8 percent in May.
America’s foreclosure rate is back to October 2007 levels, CoreLogic says. About 390,000 homes, or 1 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were at some stage of the foreclosure process in May — a 24.5 percent decrease from May 2015’s 517,000 homes at some stage of foreclosure.
“Delinquency and foreclosure rates continue to drop as we experience the benefits of tight underwriting, job and income growth and a steady rise in home prices,” CoreLogic CEO Anand Nallathamb said in a statement.
Foreclosures in California
As of May 2016, California’s foreclosure inventory was at 0.4 percent, and its serious delinquency rate was 1.5 percent, both of which are significantly lower than national averages. Despite the 23,189 completed foreclosures in California from May 2015 to May 2016, the state saw a 25.2 percent drop in foreclosure inventory during the same period.
Los Angeles’ foreclosure statistics were similar to the rest of the state’s, with the same foreclosure inventory (0.4 percent) and nearly the same delinquency rate (1.6 percent) in May. The metro saw a drop in year-over-year foreclosure inventory of 26.1 percent — the sixth highest among the 10 metros studied by CoreLogic and more than the rest of California.
CoreLogic, a real estate data company, considers a “foreclosed” property one that has been purchased at auction by either a third party or the lender. Properties in the foreclosure process have reached certain levels of delinquency with the mortgage servicer, and the mortgage servicer has initiated or is enacting foreclosure proceedings against the property owner. CoreLogic also separates states into judicial and non-judicial categories to accommodate for foreclosure timelines.
