Foreclosure, delinquency rates mostly flat in R.I., Mass. for Dec.

RHODE ISLAND'S FORECLOSURE rate rose slightly to 2.3 percent in December, according to CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for October was 2.1 percent, and the Massachusetts rate was 1.3 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
RHODE ISLAND'S FORECLOSURE rate rose slightly to 2.3 percent in December, according to CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for October was 2.1 percent, and the Massachusetts rate was 1.3 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

IRVINE, Calif. – The foreclosure rate for residential mortgages in Rhode Island and Massachusetts declined in December year over year, but saw little change on a month-over-month basis, according to real-estate data firm CoreLogic in a report issued Wednesday.

The rate for the Ocean State fell seven-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3 percent in December compared with a year earlier, but remained slightly above the national foreclosure rate of 2.1 percent. Rhode Island’s December rate, however, represented an increase over the 2.1 percent foreclosure rate reported in November, defined as the percentage of all Rhode Island residential mortgages in some part of the foreclosure process.

The number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months through the end of December totaled 1,492 in Rhode Island, a slight drop from the 1,506 that had been recorded in the 12 months through the end of November.

In addition, CoreLogic reported the “serious delinquency rate,” or the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due, as 6.4 percent in December, the same as the delinquency rate a month earlier.

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In Massachusetts, foreclosure inventory fell six-tenths of a percentage point year over year to 1.3 percent in December, compared with the 2.1 percent national average. In November, the foreclosure rate in Massachusetts also was 1.3 percent.

Actual foreclosures in the 12-month period ended Dec. 31 totaled 2,873, up slightly over the 2,815 foreclosures reported for the 12 months through November.

Finally, the serious delinquency rate for Massachusetts was 4.7 percent in December, unchanged from the rate reported the previous month.

The national foreclosure rate of 2.1 percent was also unchanged since November, but represented a decline of eight-tenths of a percentage point from December 2012. Completed foreclosures for the 12-month period through December totaled 620,111, compared with 622,686 in the 12 months through November. The serious delinquency rate was unchanged from November at 5 percent.

“Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States. Higher home prices and lower shadow inventory levels, together with a slowly improving economy, are hopeful signals that we are turning a long-awaited corner,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow.”

The states with the highest percentage of foreclosure inventory in December were Florida (6.7 percent), New Jersey (6.5 percent), New York (4.9 percent), and Connecticut and Maine (both 3.6 percent).

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