The number of completed foreclosures declined from 46,000 in December 2013 to 39,000 in December 2014, according to CoreLogic’s December National Foreclosure Report. The change represents a year-over-year decrease of 13.7 percent and a decrease of 66 percent from the peak of completed foreclosures in September 2010. The 12-month sum of completed foreclosures for 2014, at 563,294, is at its lowest point since November 2007, when it was 589,570, and has declined every month for the past 34 consecutive months. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures were down 4.9 percent from the 41,000 reported in November 2014. As a basis of comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.
As of December 2014, approximately 552,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure, known as the foreclosure inventory, compared to 840,000 in December 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 34.3 percent and representing 38 consecutive months of year-over-year declines. The foreclosure inventory as of December 2014 made up 1.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 2.1 percent in December 2013. On a month-over-month basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 2.9 percent from November 2014. The current foreclosure rate of 1.4 percent is back to March 2008 levels.
