National Foreclosure Inventory Falls 35%, Index Says
IRVINE, Calif. -- The foreclosure inventory nationwide is down 35% from a year ago, CoreLogic reports, and the Ohio inventory stands at 1.9%, down 1.1% from February 2013.
As of Feb. 28, approximately 752,000 houses in the United States were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 1.2 million in February 2013.
Completed foreclosures in Ohio totaled 28,201, while those in serious delinquency (i.e., 90 or more days past due) stood at 5.3%, according to the latest quarterly report from CoreLogic.
Completed foreclosures reflect the total number of houses actually lost to foreclosure. Since the Great Recession began in September 2008, there have been some 4.9 million foreclosures completed across the country.
According to the CoreLogic analysis:
- In February, there were 43,000 completed foreclosures in the United States, down from 51,000 in February 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 15%. Month-over-month, completed foreclosures decreased 13.1% from 50,000 in January 2014.
- National residential shadow inventory was 1.7 million houses as of January compared to 2.2 million in January 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 23%.
- At the end of February, there were 1.9 million mortgages, or 4.9%, in serious delinquency, defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or real estate owned.
“Although there is good news that completed foreclosures are trending lower, the bigger news is the impressive decline in the foreclosure and shadow inventories,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Every state has had double-digit, year-over-year declines in foreclosure inventory, which is reflected in the $70 billion decline in the shadow inventory.”
Shadow inventory highlights:
- The value of shadow inventory was $254 billion as of January, down from $324 billion a year ago and down from $289 billion six months ago.
- As of January, year-over-year inventory of seriously delinquent homes decreased by double digits in all states. Twenty-four states experienced year-over-year declines in serious delinquency of at least 20%.
- The shadow inventory is down 22% compared to January 2013.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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