The number of completed foreclosures and the U.S. foreclosure inventory were down sharply in October compared with this time last year, according to a new report from real estate data and analytics provider CoreLogic.

There were 48,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in October 2013, down from 68,000 in October 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 30 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 25.6 percent, from 64,000 in September. Prior to the housing crash, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

U.S. foreclosure inventory was also down sharply, dropping to 879,000 homes in October 2013, compared with 1.3 million in October 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 31 percent. The foreclosure inventory as of October 2013 represented 2.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared with 3.1 percent in October 2012. The foreclosure inventory was down 2.9 percent from September 2013 to October 2013.

Massachusetts ranked 26th among all states in percentage of foreclosure inventory, with 1.5 percent of homes in foreclosure, down 0.5 percent from one year ago.

"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," Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. "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."

"In October, every state posted a year-over-year decline in completed foreclosures, which is positive news," Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. "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."

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2013 were: Florida (115,000), Michigan (50,000), California (46,000), Texas (43,000) and Georgia (39,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.