Foreclosures falling as housing market mends

Foreclosure inventory has fallen significantly since last year as the housing market continues to recover

Foreclosure inventory has fallen significantly since last year as the housing market continues to recover.

CoreLogic has released its June National Foreclosure Report, which shows completed foreclosures for the month down 20% since June last year. Nationally, there were 55,000 completed foreclosures in June 2013. The result is up 2.5% on the 53,000 reported in May, but foreclosure inventories continue to trend downward, CoreLogic chief economist Dr. Mark Fleming said.

“So far this year, distressed inventories have fallen dramatically, down 14.4%, and serious delinquencies are down 15.9%. In the first six months of 2013, the stock of seriously delinquent mortgages has dropped by 412,000,” he said.

As of June, CoreLogic said approximately 1m homes in the U.S. were at some stage of foreclosure, down 28% from 1.4m at the same time last year. Completed foreclosures have no fallen on a year-over-year basis for 19 straight months.

In spite of the result, CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi cautioned against prematurely celebrating the full recovery of the housing market.

“The housing market is clearly on the mend, but we expect the ultimate conclusion of the present housing down cycle to be another several years away,” Nallathambi said.