The number of homes in foreclosure and the number that completed the foreclosure process in October decreased substantially from last year, but still remained bloated.
Completed foreclosures in October dropped by 30 percent year over year to 48,000 from 68,000 a year earlier, according to CoreLogic’s latest national foreclosure report. Month over month, the firm said that completed foreclosures fell 25.6 percent.
As a basis of comparison, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006, according to CoreLogic. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, approximately 4.6 million homes have completed the foreclosure process, CoreLogic said.
Meanwhile, the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure, known as foreclosure inventory, dropped 31 percent to 879,000 from 1.3 million a year before. Despite the improvement, foreclosure inventory is still four times higher than a normal level, according to Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.
“The scourge of an elevated foreclosure inventory is easing,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in a statement. “In October, every state posted a year-over-year decline in completed foreclosures, which is positive news.”
“Additionally, the rate of serious delinquencies, which fell more than 25 percent year over year, is at the lowest level in nearly five years, which is great news as we head into a new year.”
Source: CoreLogic
