The latest national foreclosure report just released by data provider CoreLogic shows fewer foreclosures were completed nationwide in the month of May compared to the previous year.
CoreLogic reports there were 63,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in May, down from 77,000 in May of 2011. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been 3.6 million completed foreclosures in the U.S.
As of May 2012, approximately 1.4 million homes or 3.4 percent of all homes with a mortgage were in the national foreclosure inventory (mortgaged homes at some stage of the foreclosure process), compared with 1.5 million or 3.5 percent in May of last year.
California was among the five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in May 2012, with 133,000 completed foreclosures. Other states included Florida with 92,000 completed foreclosures; Michigan, 60,000; Texas, 58,000; and Georgia, 57,000. The five states accounted for 48.8 percent of all completed foreclosures across the country.
Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, New York and Nevada are the top five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes, according to CoreLogic.
Foreclosure inventory represents the number of mortgaged homes that are placed into the foreclosure process by the mortgage servicer. Mortgage lenders start the foreclosure process when the mortgage reaches a specific level of serious delinquency, typically defined as 90, 120 or 150 days delinquent.
“It is good to know that foreclosure inventory is not as high in California compared with other states and that foreclosed homes are moving quickly in the market,” said Suzanne Yost, president of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. “We continue to be concerned that the process does not lag for the sake of distressed homeowners.”
Yost, who is a broker associate with Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos, referred to the California Legislature’s recent passage of a conference report that was a key element of the attorney general’s package of bills making up a so-called Homeowners Bill of Rights. Realtors opposed the legislation because they felt, while well-meaning, it would encourage the filing of frivolous lawsuits that would delay the foreclosure process, further discourage lending and inevitably stall the housing recovery.
“The good news is what has passed is an improved version of the package of bills initially sponsored by the attorney general. During Legislative Day in May, Realtors from across the state traveled to Sacramento and spoke with their legislators against these complicated and harmful provisions. The conference committee ultimately did not include them in the final report,” said Yost.
Yost said the organization will continue to fight for thoughtful, balanced reform of the foreclosure process. She said members support AB 1745 (Torres), which prohibits “dual tracking” to prevent lenders from selling a property at a foreclosure sale if a short sale has already been approved.
Information in this column is presented by the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors at www.silvar.org. Send questions to rmeily@silvar.org.
