U.S. Foreclosure Inventory Goes Down

The May International Foreclosure Report from Corelogic is showing a 29% decrease in inventory from a year ago. According to their analysis there were 52,000 completed foreclosures in May 2013 and 71,000 in May 2012. That’s a 27% decrease.

As of April 2013, current shadow inventory, that’s inventory owned by the bank and not yet on the market, was under 2 million units. 2 million units represents  a supply of about 5 months. Since its peak in 2010, the overall shadow inventory is down 34%. It is down 18% from a year ago.

Completed foreclosures indicate the number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged about 21,000 per month between 2000-2006. 52,000 foreclosures were reported for the month of 2013! Since the financial crisis began in September of 2008, there have been about 4.4 million completed foreclosures nationwide.

Come May 2013, approximately 1.0 million homes were in some stage of foreclosure. In other words that was the amount of foreclosure inventory nationwide. In May 2012, it was 1.4 million. This is a year to year decrease of 29%. The foreclosure inventory of May 2013 represented 2.6 of all homes with a mortgage. In May 2012, it represented 3.5 percent.

At the end of May 2013, there are fewer than 2.3 million mortgages in delinquency or past due. This is at its lowest level since 2008. This means shadow inventory is at its lowest too. The president and CEO of Corelogic, Anand Nallathambi, said, “affordability, despite the rise in home prices over the past year, and consumer confidence are big contributors to these positive trends.”

If you would like help or information regarding foreclosures, mortgage mediation, bankruptcy or short sales, contact Advantage Legal Group.