U.S. foreclosures highest in NYC, Chicago, Washington DC

In the month of October, some 37,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 12.3% month over month and down 27.1% from a total of 51,000 in October 2014, according to CoreLogic. The research firm notes that the current foreclosure inventory totals 1.2% of all homes with a mortgage in the United States, down from 1.6% in August of 2014.

The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals 463,000, compared with 589,000 in October 2014. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 21.5% compared with October a year ago.

The four states and the District of Columbia with the largest foreclosed inventory as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (4.5%), New York (3.6%), Hawaii (2.5%), Florida (2.5%) and D.C. (2.3%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are (0.4%), Arizona (0.4%), Minnesota (0.4%), Nebraska and Colorado (0.4%).

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (86,000), Michigan (59,000), Texas (30,000), Georgia (25,000) and California (24,000).

The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the prior 12 months through October were District of Columbia (76), North Dakota (239), Wyoming (515), West Virginia (544) and Hawaii (700).

CoreLogic’s chief economist said that “improved economic conditions and more foreclosure completions have pushed the foreclosure rate lower. The national unemployment rate declined to 5.0% in October, the lowest since December 2007, and the CoreLogic national Home Price Index has risen 37% from its trough.”

The company’s CEO added, “we are heading into 2016 with the lowest foreclosure inventory in eight years thanks to excalating [sic] home values and progressive improvement in Alaska (0.4%) the U.S. economy. A large proportion of the remaining foreclosure inventory is clustered in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Equally encouraging is the drop in mortgage delinquency rates reflecting the stronger labour market and tighter underwriting since 2009.”

Of the ten largest U.S. metro areas, the foreclosure inventory was highest in the New York area, at 3.6%. Chicago’s foreclosure inventory totalled 1.7%, and Washington, D.C., posted a total of 1.1%.

The New York metropolitan area, including White Plains and Jersey City, also posted the highest serious delinquency rate of 6.3%, followed by the Chicago metro area’s serious delinquency rate of 4.6% and a rate of 3.3% in the Atlanta metro area.

According to CoreLogic, the current foreclosure rate of 1.2% is the same as the November 2007 rate, and the foreclosure inventory has declined every month for the past 48 months. Before the collapse in the housing market in 2007, the average number of foreclosures completed in a month was 21,000.