Consistent with reports that we are once again in a booming housing market, housing data firm CoreLogic reports foreclosure inventory was down 25.9 percent year-over-year in June. Foreclosure inventory is defined as the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process.
While fewer foreclosures create tighter market conditions for investors of distressed properties or first-time homebuyers, this is a positive trend for the overall health of the market.
In June, 375,000 homes were in some state of the foreclosure process, according to CoreLogic. This represents approximately 1 percent of all homes with a mortgage.
“We expect the combination of continued home price appreciation of more than 5 percent, and rising employment levels in the year ahead will help cement the gains we have had and perhaps accelerate them,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in the report.
Homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, but 8.4 million homes have been lost since then. Since September 2008, when the housing market fell into major crisis, 6.3 million properties have foreclosed across the U.S.
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Foreclosure inventory in major metros
- Foreclosure inventory in the D.C. metro area dropped 26.8 percent year-over-year to reach 0.8 percent of mortgaged properties.
- In the New York City metro area, foreclosure inventory hit 3 percent, down 25.2 percent from a year ago.
- Chicago’s foreclosure inventory represented 1.3 percent of homes, down 30.7 percent year-over-year.
- In Houston, homes in foreclosure make up just 0.5 percent of the market, down 8.8 percent since last June.
- Los Angeles’ foreclosure inventory is at just 0.4 percent, down 27.2 percent since last year.
- San Francisco realized the lowest foreclosure inventory rate of all metros analyzed, at 0.1 percent of homes — a 36.1 percent drop year-over-year.
- The Miami metro area foreclosure inventory reached 2.3 percent in June, representing a 36 percent drop in 12 months.
Completed foreclosures, now and then
This June, 38,000 homes were lost to foreclosure, CoreLogic says. The peak of completed foreclosures was back in September 2010, when foreclosures hit a high 117,835 homes.
June’s number of lost homes due to foreclosure marks a 67.5 percent drop from the national peak in September 2010. Compared to last June, completed foreclosures declined almost 5 percent nationally.
Mortgage delinquencies plunge
The number of homes in serious delinquency – defined as 90 days or more past due – dropped 21.3 percent year-over-year in June, the report says.
Approximately 1.1 million mortgages (2.8 percent of all mortgage homes) were in serious delinquency in June. Mortgage delinquencies are the lowest in nine years since September 2007, according to CoreLogic.
