Foreclosures are quickly drying up in many markets. Foreclosure inventory dropped 33.2 percent, while completed foreclosures fell 22.5 percent in January year-over-year, according to CoreLogic’s January 2015 National Foreclosure Report.
Read more: Repeat Foreclosures Jumped in January
In January, 43,000 completed foreclosures occurred nationwide, down from 55,000 one year earlier. That also represents a 63 percent decline compared to the September 2010 peak in foreclosures. Foreclosures have fallen every month for the past 39 consecutive months.
"Job growth and home-value appreciation have worked to push the serious delinquency rate to the lowest since mid-2008 and foreclosures down by one-third from a year ago," says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. "With economic growth in 2015 expected to be better than last year, further declines in both delinquencies and foreclosures are projected for this year."
Still, the foreclosure crisis isn’t over yet. In January, about 549,000 homes remained in some stage of foreclosure – compared to 822,000 homes in January 2014. The foreclosure inventory comprised 1.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage in January.
"The foreclosure inventory continues to shrink with declines in all 50 states over the past 12 months," says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Florida, one of the hardest hit states during the foreclosure crisis, experienced a decline of almost 50 percent year over year, which is outstanding news."
Where Foreclosure Inventories Remain High
The following areas saw the highest foreclosure inventory (as a percentage of all mortgaged homes) in January:
- New Jersey: 5.2%
- New York: 4%
- Florida: 3.5%
- Hawaii: 2.7%
- District of Columbia: 2.5%
Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory in January were Alaska (0.3%); Nebraska (0.4%); North Dakota (0.4%); Arizona (0.5%), and Montana (0.5%).
5 States With Highest Foreclosures
Five states accounted for nearly half of all completed foreclosures nationally. These states posted the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January 2015, according to CoreLogic’s report:
- Florida: 111,000
- Michigan: 51,000
- Texas: 34,000
- California: 30,000
- Georgia: 28,000
Source: CoreLogic
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