Foreclosures Up in March, but Down 10 Percent from Last Year

Completed foreclosures increased by nearly 6 percent inrnMarch, moving from 45,000 in February to 48,000.  CoreLogic said this morning that there were,rnhowever 10 percent fewer foreclosures than in March 2013 when 53,000 homes werernforeclosed.  The total number of foreclosuresrnfor the 12 months ended in March declined for the 27^th consecutivernmonth and was the lowest aggregate sum since December 2007.  </p

The company estimates that there have been about 5 millionrnhomes lost to foreclosure since the housing crisis began in September 2008 and,rnwhile the incidence is down dramatically from the peak, foreclosures are stillrnrunning at nearly twice what might be considered a normal pace.  As a basis of comparison the company saidrnthat between 2000 and 2006 foreclosures nationwide averaged around 21,000 perrnmonth.</p

The foreclosure inventory or number of homes in some stagernof foreclosure is also down substantially, 37 percent from one year ago.  CoreLogic estimates that there arernapproximately 720,000 homes throughout the country in foreclosure compared torn1.1 million in March 2013.  It was the 29^{th</supmonth the inventory has declined on an annual basis.  The inventory in March represented 1.8rnpercent of all mortgaged homes in the country compared to March 2013 when the inventoryrnrate was 2.8 percent.  On arnmonth-over-month basis the inventory is down 5.1 percent. </p}

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“The inventory of homes in foreclosure and seriousrndelinquency status are back to 2008 levels, yet remain elevated from arnhistorical perspective,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Whilerngetting healthier, the housing market is a long way from being fully recovered.  By way of comparison, distressed stockrninventories are more than three times higher than the levels of the early 2000s,rnbefore the most-recent housing boom and subsequent financial crisis.”</p

The states with the highestrnnumber of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ended in March were Florida (122,000), Michigan (49,000), Texasrn(39,000), California (34,000) and Georgia (33,000).These five states accountrnfor almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.</p

The five statesrnwith the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homesrnwere New Jersey (6.0 percent), Florida (5.8 percent), New York (4.6 percent),rnMaine (3.2 percent) and Hawaii (3.1 percent).</p

The nationalrndelinquency rate in March was 4.7 percent. rnThe highest delinquency rate in the country and the only one stillrnrunning in double digits was in Florida, a judicial foreclosure state, with arnrate of 10.3 percent.</p

“The pathway to a full recovery in housing is proving to berna very long one, but lower distressed stock levels are one clear indicator thatrnwe continue to make slow-but-steady progress,” said Anand Nallathambi,rnpresident and CEO of CoreLogic. “Most states have made good progress clearingrntheir foreclosure inventories but states that have a longer judicialrnforeclosure process such as Florida, New Jersey and New York, continue tornstruggle with elevated distressed stock inventories.”</p<p

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