The national foreclosure inventory declined by 29.6 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 42.4 percent compared with August 2015, according to the August 2016 National Foreclosure report released today from CoreLogic, a global property information and analytics firm. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 64,000 in August 2015 to 37,000 in August 2016, representing a decrease of 69 percent from the peak of 118,221 in September 2010.

The August 2016 foreclosure inventory was down 3.2 percent compared with July 2016, according to the report.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.4 million completed foreclosures nationally, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 8.5 million homes lost to foreclosure.

As of August 2016, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 351,000, or 0.9 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 499,000 homes, or 1.3 percent, in August 2015. The current foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest it’s been since July 2007.

Foreclosures in Massachusetts have been leveling off in recent months; The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported an increase of just 0.7 percent in foreclosure petitions in August.

CoreLogic also reports that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 20.6 percent from August 2015 to August 2016, with 1.1 million mortgages, or 2.8 percent, the lowest level since September 2007. The decline was geographically broad with decreases in serious delinquency in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

“Foreclosure rates and serious delinquency continued to trend down in August as real estate markets across many parts of the U.S. exhibit strong demand growth and rising prices,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “With the foreclosure inventory now under 1 percent nationally, the need to boost single-family housing stocks through new construction will become more acute in the coming months and years.”