As of August, about 1.3 million homes — or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage — were in the national foreclosure inventory or in some stage of foreclosure. In August 2011, that number stood at 1.4 million.
“The continuing downward trend in foreclosures and a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are important signals that the recovery in housing is gaining traction,” says Anand Nallathambi, CEO of CoreLogic. “The reduction in foreclosure volumes is to some degree being facilitated by the rising popularity of alternative resolution methods, such as short sales and loan modifications.”
August marked the fourth consecutive month of fewer foreclosures nationwide. Still, some housing markets are facing higher concentrations of foreclosures than others.
In particular, five states — California, Florida, Michigan, Texas, and Georgia — account for nearly half of all completed foreclosures nationwide in the past year, says Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.
The states with the highest percentages of foreclosure inventories are Florida (11 percent), New Jersey (6.5 percent), New York (5.2 percent), Illinois (4.8 percent), and Nevada (4.6 percent).
Meanwhile, the states boasting the lowest number of completed foreclosures in the last year are: South Dakota, District of Columbia, Hawaii, North Dakota, and Maine.
Source: CoreLogic