Foreclosures drop 17% in October

Approximately 58,000 completed foreclosures occurred in the United States in October 2012, a 17% decline from the 70,000 foreclosures in October 2011, according to a report by CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics and business services. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell 25%, from 77,000 in September 2012 to the current 58,000. 

Approximately 1.3 million homes, or 3.2% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of October 2012 compared with 1.5 million, or 3.6%, in October 2011. Month-over-month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.3% from September 2012 to October 2012.

"A lower foreclosure inventory is a good indicator of improving housing markets," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "The downward trend in foreclosure inventories over the past year is yet another signal that a recovery in housing is gaining traction.”

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said: "As a result of completed foreclosures and alternative disposition methods, the foreclosure inventory has declined by 9% year-to-date. This is good news for housing markets as we look forward to 2013.”

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ended in October 2012 were: California (105,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (68,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (54,000).These five states account for 49% of all completed foreclosures nationally.

• The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ended in October 2012 were: South Dakota (19), District of Columbia (64), Hawaii (452), North Dakota (511) and Maine (643).