Foreclosure inventory plummets in 2013

Foreclosure inventory fell 31% in 2013, according to data released today

Foreclosure inventory fell 31% in 2013, according to data released today.

According to analytics firm CoreLogic’s December National Foreclosure Report, about U.S. homes were in some stage of foreclosure in December 2013, down from 1.2 million in December 2012. December foreclosure inventory represented 2.1% of all homes with a mortgage, down from 3% in December 2012. The foreclosure inventory was down 2.7% from November 2013.

Completed foreclosures were also down. According to CoreLogic, there were 620,111 completed foreclosures in 2013, a drop of 24% from 2012’s number of 820,498. The month of December saw 45,000 completed foreclosures, down 14% from December 2012 and 4.1% month-over-month.

“Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States. 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,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow.”

Florida had the highest number of completed foreclosures in 2013 at 119,000, followed by Michigan (53,000), California (39,000), Texas (39,000) and Georgia (35,000). Together, the five states accounted for almost half of all foreclosures nationally.