CoreLogic Reports 58,000 Completed Foreclosures in October

The National Foreclosure Inventory Has Fallen 9 Percent Year-to-Date

News Release from CoreLogic, Irvine, CA December 3, 2012

CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its National Foreclosure Report for October that provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the overall foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 58,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in October 2012, down from 70,000 in October 2011 representing a year-over-year decrease of 17 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell from 77,000* in September 2012 to the current 58,000, representing a decrease of 25 percent. As a basis of comparison, prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9 million completed foreclosures across the country.

Approximately 1.3 million homes, or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of October 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.6 percent, in October 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.3 percent from September 2012 to October 2012. The foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in any stage of the foreclosure process.

“A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction.”

“As a result of completed foreclosures and alternative disposition methods, the foreclosure inventory has declined by 9 percent year-to-date. This is good news for housing markets as we look forward to 2013,”said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic.

Highlights as of October 2012:

·       The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49.0 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.

·       The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in October 2012 were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).

·       The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (11.1 percent), New Jersey (7.7 percent), New York (5.3 percent), Illinois (5.0 percent) and Nevada (4.8 percent).

·       The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.7 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and South Dakota (1.0 percent).

*September data was revised from 57,000 completed foreclosures to 77,000. Revisions are standard, and to ensure accuracy CoreLogic incorporates newly released data to provide updated results. The larger-than-usual revision to completed foreclosures is related to the annual online auction of delinquent tax properties in Wayne County, Mich. Excluding Wayne County completed foreclosures, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in September.

To download a copy of the National Foreclosure Report, please visit: CoreLogic Foreclosure Report October 2012