Foreclosure inventory declined by 21.8 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 18.8 percent in November 2015 compared with November 2014, the latest CoreLogic report found.
The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process and completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6 million completed foreclosures across the country. Additionally, since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been about 8 million homes lost to foreclosure.
According to the November 2015 National Foreclosure Report, the number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 41,000 in November 2014 to 33,000 in November 2015, and the number of completed foreclosures in November 2015 was down 71.6 percent from the peak of 117,657 in September 2010.
The numbers seem to indicate an improving housing market.
As of November 2015, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 448,000, or 1.2 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 573,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, in November 2014. This puts the November 2015 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.
The number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO) also declined by 21.7 percent from November 2014 to November 2015, with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.3 percent, in this category, the report stated. The November 2015 serious delinquency rate is the lowest since December 2007.
The team at CoreLogic is optimistic about the results of the report.
“After peaking at 3.6 percent in January 2011, the foreclosure rate currently stands at 1.2 percent—a remarkable improvement,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “While there are still pockets of areas with high foreclosure activity, 30 states have foreclosure rates below the national average which is evidence of the solid improvement.”
“Tight post-crash underwriting standards coupled with much improved economic and housing market fundamentals have combined to push new mortgage delinquencies to 15-year-lows,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Although judicial states will likely continue to lag, given current trends, it is reasonable to expect a continued and significant drop in the rate of serious delinquencies and foreclosure starts in 2016.”
Additionally, the report showed that on a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased by 10.9 percent to 33,000 in November 2015 from the 38,000 reported in October 2015. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.