March ushers in almost 70,000 foreclosures

CoreLogic, a provider of information, analytics and business services, released the most recent figures for its monthly National Foreclosure Report, reporting 69,000 completed foreclosures in March 2012. This compares with 85,000 in March 2011 and 66,000 in February 2012. 

Approximately 1.4 million homes, or 3.4% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of March 2012 compared with 1.5 million, or 3.5%, in March 2011 and 1.4 million, or 3.4%, in February 2012. The number of loans in the foreclosure inventory decreased by nearly 100,000, or 6.0%, in March 2012 compared with March 2011.

"The overall delinquency level was unchanged in March, remaining at its lowest point since July 2009," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. "Non-judicial foreclosure markets like Nevada, Arizona and California are experiencing significant improvements in their shares of delinquent borrowers. Some judicial foreclosure states are also improving, like Florida, but not to the extent of non-judicial markets."

The five states with the highest foreclosure rates, according to the CoreLogic report, were: Florida (12.1%), New Jersey (6.6%), Illinois (5.4%), Nevada (4.9%) and New York (4.9%).

The five states with the lowest foreclosure rates were: Wyoming (0.7%), Alaska (0.8%), North Dakota (0.8%), Nebraska (1.1%) and South Dakota (1.4%).