About 46,000 foreclosures were completed nationwide in September, an increase of 4.7% compared to the approximately 44,000 reported in August, but a decrease of 32.6% compared to the 68,000 recorded in September 2013, according to CoreLogic.
What's more, foreclosures were down 61% compared to the peak of completed foreclosures in 2010.
September marked the 20th consecutive month that foreclosures were down on a year-over-year basis. CoreLogic points out that prior to the Great Recession, foreclosures averaged around 21,000 per month.
Approximately 607,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, in September, down 2.8% compared to August and down 34.3% compared to about 924,000 in September 2013. The foreclosure inventory as of September made up 1.6% of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.3% in September 2013.
Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, says although ‘the level of serious delinquencies has rapidly declined over the last few years â�¦ the pace of improvement is beginning to recede.’
‘As of June, serious delinquencies were 26 percent lower than the prior year, but as of September, serious delinquencies were 21 percent lower,’ Khater says in a statement.
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, adds, ‘Although the foreclosure inventory and rates of seriously delinquent loans remain elevated in many states, progress is being made and this bodes well for a better housing market in 2015 and beyond.’
All states posted double-digit declines in foreclosures, year over year. In fact, 29 states saw year-over-year declines of greater than 30%, with Arizona (-47.6%) and Utah (-47.1%) experiencing the largest declines. Only the District of Columbia experienced an increase (7.1%).
States with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ended Sept. 30 included Florida (120,000), Texas (36,000), California (31,000), Michigan (29,000) and Georgia (27,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
States with the lowest number of completed foreclosures in September included South Dakota (63), District of Columbia (68), North Dakota (286), West Virginia (458) and Wyoming (628).
States with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were New Jersey (5.7%), Florida (4.4%), New York (4.1%), Hawaii (2.9%) and Maine (2.7%).
States with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes included Nebraska (0.4%), Alaska (0.4%), Arizona (0.5%), North Dakota (0.5%) and Wyoming (0.5%).