April foreclosure inventory drops 24%

   CoreLogic’s latest National Foreclosure Report found 52,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in April 2013. That’s down from 62,000 in April 2012 for a year-over-year decrease of 16 percent. Compared to completed foreclosures one month earlier, the number was relatively flat.

Prior to the 2007 decline in the housing market, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide.

In April 2013, about 1.1 million U.S. homes were in some stage of foreclosure, making them part of the foreclosure inventory, a drop from 1.5 million in April 2012 for a year-over-year decrease of 24 percent.

The foreclosure inventory declined 2 percent in one month. As of April 2013, it represented 2.8 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared to 3.5 percent in March 2013.

“The shadow of foreclosure and distress continues to fade, with the annualized sum of completed foreclosures having declined for 17 straight months,” says Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Six states have year-over-year declines in the foreclosure inventory of more than 40 percent, and in Arizona and California the year-over-year decline is more than 50 percent.”

Florida

Florida continued to lead the nation in the percent of homes in foreclosure. According to CoreLogic, 9.5 percent of Florida homes were in some state of foreclosure compared to the 2.8 percent national average. New Jersey ranked second at 7.4 percent, but only five states have an inventory of 4 percent or larger. Still, Florida’s foreclosure inventory fell 2.6 percent year-over-year.