IRVINE, Calif.—The number of foreclosures nationally continues to decline, with 41,000 completed foreclosures in November, down from 46,000 in November of 2013, according to CoreLogic.
On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures were down 12.6% from October of 2014. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006, CoreLogic said.
“Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure,” CoreLogic said in a statement. “Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.5 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately seven million homes lost to foreclosure.”
As of November 2014, approximately 567,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 880,000 in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 35.5% and representing 37 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of November 2014 made up 1.5% of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.2% in November 2013, CoreLogic said. The current foreclosure rate of 1.5% is the lowest inventory level since March 2008.
“The foreclosure rate fell in every state, with only the District of Columbia seeing a small increase," said Molly Boesel, senior economist. “However, some states still have foreclosure rates of more than twice the national rate. While the national level of foreclosures may normalize in the next two years, there will always be the potential for some pockets of distress in the mortgage market.”
The number of completed foreclosures over the past twelve months—just under 575,000—are at the lowest level in seven years.