U.S. foreclosures dropped to 58,000, down 17 percent in October year over year, according to a new report from CoreLogic, a provider real estate data and analytics. There were 70,000 foreclosures across the country in 2011.
According to the firm’s National Foreclosure Report for October, completed foreclosures also declined month-over-month, falling from from 77,000 in September 2012, a decrease of 25 percent. (Those numbers reflect revisions to CoreLogic’s September data, which originally estimated 57,000 foreclosure in that month. According to CoreLogic, the larger-than-usual revision to completed foreclosures is related to the annual online auction of delinquent tax properties in Wayne County, Mich. Excluding Wayne County completed foreclosures, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in September.)
Foreclosure inventory levels also declined. Approximately 1.3 million homes, or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of October 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.6 percent, in October 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.3 percent from September 2012 to October 2012.
"A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in a statement. "The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction."
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49.0 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.
The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).
According to CoreLogic’s data, 2.1 percent of Massachusetts homes were in foreclosure in October, an increase of 0.1 percent from a year ago, with 7,686 foreclosures completed during the past 12 months.
Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.
