There were 57,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in August, down from 75,000 in August 2011 and down from 58,000 in July, according to new data from Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic.
CoreLogic reports that approximately 1.3 million homes, or 3.2% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of August, compared to 1.4 million (3.4%) in August 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory remained unchanged.
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in August were California (110,000), Florida (92,000), Michigan (62,000), Texas (58,000) and Georgia (55,000). These five states account for 48.1% of all completed foreclosures nationally.
‘The continuing downward trend in foreclosures and a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are important signals that the recovery in housing is gaining traction,’ says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. ‘The reduction in foreclosure volumes is to some degree being facilitated by the rising popularity of alternative resolution methods, such as short sales and loan modifications.’
