43,000 foreclosures were completed in the month of February, according to CoreLogic's monthly National Foreclosure Report. Completed foreclosures decreased from January by 13.1 percent, as well as falling year over year by 15 percent. Foreclosure inventory also declined, posting a monthly decrease of 3.3 percent for a total of 752,000 homes in some stage of the foreclosure process. February's drop makes 28 consecutive months where inventory has declined on a year-over-year basis.
Shadow inventory also receded, falling 2.9 percent over the fourth quarter of 2013, according to CoreLogic. Year-over-year, shadow inventory is down 22 percent as of January, 2014. Seriously delinquent mortgages fell 23.8 percent year over year in February, and dropped from 1.8 percent to 1.5 percent from January to February. Individual states with the highest numbers of completed foreclosures include Florida, Michigan, Texas, California, and Georgia.
A slow week for economic news led to relative flatness in mortgage rates to kick off April, according to Freddie Mac. The results of the company's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey found the average rate on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage came up to 4.41 percent for the week ending April 3rd. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.54 percent. Freddie Mac also commented that real GDP was revised up slightly to 2.6 percent growth for the fourth quarter of 2013.