MortgageServicing

CoreLogic: Foreclosures fall to lowest level since 2006

Recovery from housing crisis continues

In another sign that the recovery from the housing crisis is ongoing rather than stalled out, the total number of completed foreclosures in 2015 was the lowest number of completed foreclosures in any year since 2006, a new report from CoreLogic shows.

The numbers hit a 8-year low just last month.

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, released its December 2015 National Foreclosure Report, which showed that the number of completed foreclosures fell more than 20% from 2014 to 2015, making it the best year since before the housing crisis began.

For the month of December, the number of completed foreclosures dropped by 22.6% compared to December 2014.

CoreLogic’s report showed that the number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year-over-year from 41,000 in December 2014 to 32,000 in December 2015.

The number of completed foreclosures in December 2015 was down 72.8% from the peak of 117,722 in September 2010.

On a more granular level, the five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2015 were Florida (79,000), Michigan (50,000), Texas (30,000), Ohio (24,000) and Georgia (24,000).

According to CoreLogic’s report, these five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.

On the other hand, four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2015: the District of Columbia (81), North Dakota (220), Wyoming (541), West Virginia (560) and Alaska (700).

Additionally, CoreLogic’s report showed that in December, foreclosure inventory declined by 23.8% when compared to December 2014.

According to CoreLogic’s report, 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.

As of December 2015, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 433,000, or 1.1%, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 568,000 homes, or 1.5%, in December 2014.

The December 2015 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.

For historical perspective, since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there were approximately 6.1 million completed foreclosures in the U.S.

Since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there were approximately 8 million homes lost to foreclosure.

CoreLogic’s report also showed that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency, which is defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO, declined by 23.3% from December 2014 to December 2015, with 1.2 million mortgages, or 3.2%, in this category.

The December 2015 serious delinquency rate was the lowest in eight years, falling to a the lowest level since November 2007.

Additionally, four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory rate in December 2015: New Jersey (4.2%), New York (3.5%), Hawaii (2.4%), the District of Columbia (2.3%) and Florida (2.3%).

The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in December 2015 were Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.3%), Colorado (0.4%), Arizona (0.4%) and Utah (0.4%).

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