IRVINE, CA-The total number of home foreclosures nationwide continues to decline as the housing market moves through its recovery phase. According to a national foreclosure report from CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics and business services here, 57,000 completed foreclosures were reported in the US in September, down from 83,000 in September 2011 and 59,000 in August 2012.
Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, added that even though there is significant progress to be made before returning to pre-crisis levels, “the trend is in the right direction as short sales, up 27% year-over-year in August, continue to gain popularity.”
As GlobeSt.com previously reported, foreclosure filings—including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions—also decreased 7% in September, a reduction of 16% from September 2011, according to RealtyTrac’s US Foreclosure Market Report for September and the third quarter of 2012. September’s total was the lowest US total since July 2007.
In addition, according to a new analysis by Zillow, homebuyers across the country in September saw a discount of 7.7% when buying a bank-owned property vs. the same home in a non-distressed sale. The discount narrowed from 9.1% during the same month last year and has fallen dramatically from a peak national discount of 23.7% in August 2009.
“The smallest foreclosure discount is found in places where competition for homes is so high, people there are willing to pay the same amount for a foreclosure re-sale that they would for a non-distressed home simply to take advantage of historic affordability,” according to Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist. “Additionally, in areas such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, where not long ago one out of every two homes sold was a foreclosure resale, buying a foreclosure is no longer just for investors.”
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| Prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9 million completed foreclosures across the country. |
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| The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and Nevada. The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota, Nebraska and South Dakota. |
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| “Increasingly improving market conditions and industry and government policy are allowing distressed homeowners to pursue refinancing, loan modifications or short sales rather than foreclosures,” according to Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. |
*charts courtesy of CoreLogic. For the complete report, click here. For more information on distressed asset investments, click here.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
