R.I. foreclosure inventory drops in December, still higher than nation

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s foreclosure inventory was 1.7 percent in December, a half a percentage point drop from a year ago, according to data firm CoreLogic.
It remained slightly above the national rate of 1.4 percent for December, however.
Rhode Island also registered 1,599 completed foreclosures for the 12 months that ended Dec. 31, which was 62, or 4 percent, more than during the prior year period.
Nationally, 563,294 completed foreclosures were recorded in 2014, nearly 100,000 less than in 2013. That marks the lowest point since November 2007, when the national number of completed foreclosures was 589,570. The amount has declined every month for the past 34 consecutive months, CoreLogic said.
“In 2014, the annual sum of completed foreclosures declined 15 percent from the 662,000 reported in 2013,” Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, said in a statement. “Completed foreclosures last year were less than half the 1.2 million peak in 2010, but remain twice the level of normal activity over 10 years ago.”
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said the “steady decline” in the number of completed foreclosures is a good sign of “healing in the U.S. housing market.”
“Nonetheless, there remain many pockets of the country with very high foreclosure inventories, underscoring the unevenness of the nation’s housing recovery,” Nallathambi said.
Five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months that ended Dec. 31 were Florida with 118,000; Michigan at 49,000; Texas, 35,000; California, 29,000; and Ohio, 28,000.
Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures in 2014: South Dakota with 40; District of Columbia at 61; North Dakota, 327; West Virginia, 500; and Wyoming, 551.
New Jersey (5.2 percent), New York (4 percent), Florida (3.7 percent), Hawaii (2.7 percent) and the District of Columbia (2.4 percent) had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes (foreclosure inventory includes all mortgaged homes at some point in the foreclosure process but does not include completed foreclosures).
Alaska (0.3 percent), Nebraska (0.4 percent), North Dakota (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.5 percent) and Montana (0.5 percent) had the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes.
Rhode Island also had a serious delinquency rate of 5.5 percent, greater than the national average of 4.1 percent. A mortgage loan is considered in “serious delinquency” when it is 90 or more days past due. Rhode Island, Maine and Connecticut all had the same serious delinquency rate, which was the highest in New England. Massachusetts had a 4.1 percent rate, while Vermont had 3.2 percent, and New Hampshire, 2.9 percent.

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