Foreclosures up Again in May, but Annual Counts Still Falling

Even as variousrnindicators of foreclosure activity continue to tumble from their year agornlevels, they still tend to bounce up and down from month to month.   CoreLogic today said that completedrnforeclosures were up again in May when compared to April while the foreclosurerninventory fell. </p

Completed foreclosuresrnnumbered 47,000 in May 2014 compared to 52,000 in May 2013, a year-over-year changernof -9.4 percent.  However completedrnforeclosures, an indication of the number of homes repossessed by a lender,rnrose by 2,000 or 3.8 percent from April to May. rnCore-Logic said that there have been approximately 5 million completedrnforeclosures nationwide since the housing crisis began in September 2008,rncomparing this to the average of 21,000 foreclosures completed each month (anrnaverage of 252,000 per year) nationwide between 2000 and 2006.  </p

The foreclosurerninventory, the number of homes in some stage of foreclosure, has now declinedrnon a year-over-year basis for 31 straight months and stood at 600,000 units inrnMay.  This is a -37 percent change fromrnMay 2013 when the inventory contained 1 million homes.  The May inventory represented 1.7 percent ofrnall homes with a mortgage in the U.S compared to a rate of 2.6 percent a yearrnearlier.  The April to May decline wasrn4.8 percent.  </p

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“Significant gainsrnhave been made in the last year to reduce the foreclosure stock,” said MarkrnFleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Yet, these improvements are occurringrndisproportionately in non-judicial states. The foreclosure inventory inrnjudicial states is averaging 2.1 percent, which is more than twice the 0.9rnpercent average that is occurring in non-judicial states.”</p

The improvement in foreclosure activityrnis apparent nationwide.  Every state postedrndouble-digit year-over-year declines in completed foreclosures and 38 showedrnannual declines in their foreclosure inventories exceeding 30 percent.  In Arizona, Utah, Nebraska, and Minnesotarnthose declines were over 50 percent. </p

Some states, however, are stillrnexperiencing significant activity. rnFlorida has had 122,000 completed foreclosures in the last 12 months,rnMichigan 44,000, and Texas 39,000.  Thernother two states in the top five were California (34,000) and Georgia (32,000.)rn These five states combined had almostrnhalf of the completed foreclosures in the country. </p

The five statesrnwith the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homesrnwere: New Jersey (5.8 percent), Florida (5.2 percent), New York (4.3 percent),rnHawaii (3.1 percent) and Maine (2.8 percent).</p

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