IRVINE, Calif.—National foreclosure inventory is markedly declining, and will continue to do so, according to a new analysis.
CoreLogic reported that the foreclosure inventory nationally declined 25.7% and completed foreclosures declined by 15.5% in March from the same period last year. There were 41,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in March 2015, down from 48,000 in March 2014, representing a decrease of 65.2% from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010, according to CoreLogic.
“Foreclosures and serious delinquency rates continue to drop as the home purchase market begins to emerge from its eight-year slump,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Based on the current trends in completed foreclosure rates, we expect the foreclosure inventory to drop below 1.3% by midyear, a level not seen since the end of 2007. Many states in the Northeast and Midwest, as well as Florida, still have elevated levels of distressed housing, but they are making more rapid progress as of late. In March, foreclosures in these areas accounted for a large proportion of completed foreclosures.”
Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure, the company reminded. “Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.6 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 7.7 million homes lost to foreclosure,” Corelogic stated in a release.
The number of mortgages in serious delinquency declined by 19.1% from March 2014 to March 2015, with 1.5 million mortgages, or 3.9%, in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or REO). “This is the lowest delinquency rate since May 2008. On a month-over-month basis, the number of seriously delinquent mortgages declined by 1.9%,” Corelogic said.
As of March 2015, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 542,000 homes, or 1.4%, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 729,000 homes, or 1.9%, in March 2014, representing a year-over-year decline of 25.7%.
“We are seeing additional improvement in housing market conditions due to a decline in the serious delinquency rate to 3.9%, far below the peak of 8.6% in early 2010,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Despite the decline in the number of loans that are 90 days or more delinquent or in foreclosure, the percent of homeowners struggling to keep up is still well above the pre-recession average of 1.5%.”