This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THERE were 58,000 home foreclosures in the United States during the month of October – down 17% from 70,000 in the same month last year, according to CoreLogic.
CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report for October shows on a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell from 77,000 in September to the current 58,000, representing a decrease of 25%.
Prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006.
CoreLogic CEO Anand Nallathambi said completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure and since the global financial crisis in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49.0% of all completed foreclosures nationally.
The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the same period were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).
Approximately 1.3 million homes, or 3.2% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of October 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.6%, in October 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.3% from September 2012 to October 2012. The foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in any stage of the foreclosure process.
“A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets. The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction,” Nallathambi said.
CoreLogic’s chief economist Mark Fleming said as a result of completed foreclosures and alternative disposition methods, the foreclosure inventory has declined by 9% year-to-date, which is good news for housing markets for the year ahead.
The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (11.1%), New Jersey (7.7%), New York (5.3%), Illinois (5.0%) and Nevada (4.8%).
In contrast the five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory were: Wyoming (0.5%), Alaska (0.7%), North Dakota (0.7%), Nebraska (0.8%) and South Dakota (1.0%).
Property Review
