Foreclosure Pipeline Gradually Being Cleaned Out

Realtor Magazine Daily News  |   January 31, 2014

As the foreclosure crisis continues to recede, some parts of the country remain at elevated levels. Five states now account for nearly half of all the completed foreclosures in the nation —Florida, Michigan, California, Texas, and Georgia, according to CoreLogic’s latest foreclosure report.

Foreclosures made up 10 percent of sales in December, while short sales comprised 4 percent of sales, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ existing-home sales report for December

On average, foreclosures sold for an average discount of 18 percent below market value in December, while short sales were discounted 13 percent, NAR reports.

CoreLogic reported this week that completed foreclosures fell 14 percent in December year-over-year.

Inventories are also falling. About 837,000 homes in the United States in December were in some state of foreclosure or known as foreclosure inventory, compared with 1.2 million in December 2012 – a 31 percent year-over-year decrease, CoreLogic notes.

The five states with the highest foreclosure inventories as percentage of all homes with a mortgage are Florida (6.7%), New Jersey (6.5%), New York (4.9%), Connecticut (3.6%), and Maine (3.6%).

Meanwhile, the two states with the lowest foreclosure inventories as percentage of all homes with a mortgage were Wyoming (0.4%) and Alaska (0.5%).

“Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States,” says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Higher home prices and lower shadow inventory levels, together with a slowly improving economy, are hopeful signals that we are turning a long-awaited corner. The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow.”

 

Source: Realtor Magazine Daily News