| Foreclosure activity is continuing to decline nationwide according to a report released today by CoreLogic, a property information provider.
Foreclosure inventory declined nationally by 21.8 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 18.8 percent compared with November 2014, according to the report. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 41,000 in November 2014 to 33,000 in November 2015. The number of completed foreclosures in November 2015 was down 71.6 percent from the peak of 117,657 in September 2010.
Completed foreclosures decreased by 10.9 percent to 33,000 in November 2015 from 38,000 in October 2015.
The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process and completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6 million completed foreclosures across the country. Since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been about 8 million homes lost to foreclosure.
As of November 2015, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 448,000, or 1.2 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 573,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, in November 2014. The November 2015 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest it has been since November 2007.
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 21.7 percent from November 2014 to November 2015, with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.3 percent, in this category. The November 2015 serious delinquency rate is the lowest since December 2007.
“After peaking at 3.6 percent in January 2011, the foreclosure rate currently stands at 1.2 percent – a remarkable improvement,” Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. “While there are still pockets of areas with high foreclosure activity, 30 states have foreclosure rates below the national average which is evidence of the solid improvement.”
“Tight post-crash underwriting standards coupled with much improved economic and housing market fundamentals have combined to push new mortgage delinquencies to 15-year-lows,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in the statement. “Although judicial states will likely continue to lag, given current trends, it is reasonable to expect a continued and significant drop in the rate of serious delinquencies and foreclosure starts in 2016.”
