Foreclosures nationwide dropped 17.8 percent year-over-year in the month of January, falling to 61,000 completed foreclosures from the 75,000 recorded during the same time last year, according to the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.
The firm also recorded a year-over-year decline in the nationwide foreclosure inventory, declining to 1.2 million homes nationwide from 1.5 million during January of last year, a 21 percent decrease in the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure. This represents the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year declines in the nationwide foreclosure inventory.
Massachusetts recorded the 29th highest foreclosure inventory in the country with 1.9 percent of all mortgaged homes in some state of foreclosure. This is a slight decrease, of 0.1 percent, from the same time a year ago.
"The backlog of distressed assets continues to fade as the foreclosure inventory has fallen to a level not seen since mid-2009, with less than 3 percent of all mortgages in foreclosure," Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. "The improvement is widespread as only six states and 13 of the largest 100 metro areas had an increase in the foreclosure rate year over year."
As a basis of comparison, prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006.
The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January were: District of Columbia, Hawaii, North Dakota, Maine and West Virginia. The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures were: California, Florida, Michigan, Texas and Georgia. These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
"We still have over a million homes in some stage of foreclosure which is too high, but the continuing downward trend in completed foreclosures is a very positive signal that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. "We expect this trend will continue in 2013 as the housing market stabilizes and purchase activity picks up."
