Approximately 620,111 foreclosures were completed across the country in 2013 – a decrease of 24% compared to the 820,498 completed in 2012, according to CoreLogic's National Foreclosure Report for December.
For the month, there were about 45,000 completed foreclosures, down 4.1% from the 47,000 reported in November, and down 14% compared to the 52,000 reported in December 2012. (CoreLogic noted that it revised its November foreclosure data.)
Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.8 million completed foreclosures across the country. CoreLogic notes that completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006.
As of December, about 837,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory – a decrease of 31% compared to the 1.2 million in some stage of foreclosure in December 2012.
The foreclosure inventory as of December represented 2.1% of all homes with a mortgage compared to 3% in December 2012. The foreclosure inventory was down 2.7% from November 2013 to December 2013.
Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, says the decline ‘indicates that the distressed foreclosure inventory is healing at an accelerating rate heading into 2014.’
"Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States,’ says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in a press release. ‘Higher home prices and lower shadow inventory levels, together with a slowly improving economy, are hopeful signals that we are turning a long-awaited corner. The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow."
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2013 were Florida (119,000), Michigan (53,000), California (39,000), Texas (39,000) and Georgia (35,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2013 were District of Columbia (63), North Dakota (417), Hawaii (493), West Virginia (505) and Wyoming (759).
The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida (6.7%), New Jersey (6.5%), New York (4.9%), Connecticut (3.6%) and Maine (3.6%).
The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Wyoming (0.4%), Alaska (0.5%), North Dakota (0.6%), Colorado (0.6%) and Nebraska (0.6%).
To download a copy of the full report, click here.
