IRVINE, Calif.—The inventory of foreclosed properties in the United States just continues to keep sliding.
The foreclosure inventory declined by 27.9% and completed foreclosures declined by 24.4% since July 2014, according to the July 2015 National Foreclosure Report from CoreLogic. The number of foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 50,000 in July 2014 to 38,000 in July 2015, representing a decrease of 67.9% from the peak of 117,225 completed foreclosures in September 2010, CoreLogic said.
“Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes lost to foreclosure,” the company said in a released statement. “Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.8 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 7.8 million homes lost to foreclosure.”
As of July 2015, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 469,000, or 1.2%, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 650,000 homes, or 1.7%, in July 2014. The July 2015 foreclosure rate is the lowest since December 2007.
CoreLogic also reported that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 23% from July 2014 to July 2015 with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.4%, falling into this category. This is the lowest serious delinquency rate since December 2007.
Additional highlights as of July 2015:
- On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures declined by 6.2% from the 40,000 reported in June 2015. 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.
- The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in July 2015 were Florida (98,000), Michigan (47,000), Texas (33,000), California (27,000) and Georgia (27,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
- Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in July 2015: South Dakota (33), the District of Columbia (124), North Dakota (316), Wyoming (483) and West Virginia (553).
- Four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes: New Jersey (4.8%), New York (3.7%), Florida (2.7%), Hawaii (2.5%) and the District of Columbia (2.4%).
- The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate: Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.4%), North Dakota (0.4%), Utah (0.4%) and Nebraska (0.4%).