The nation's foreclosure rate and serious delinquency rate in April both fell to post-crisis lows amid home price appreciation and labor market improvements, according to data released by CoreLogic’s April 2016 National Foreclosure Report released Tuesday. The report found that foreclosure inventory declined by 23 percent over-the-year to about 406 thousand homes—representing about 1 point 1 percent of all homes with a mortgage. The 1 point 1 percent foreclosure rate is the lowest for any one month since September 2007.
The number of seriously delinquent mortgages fell by 21 point 6 percent over-the-year in April down to about 1 point 1 million mortgages, representing about 3 percent of all homes with a mortgage. The 3 percent serious delinquency rate is the lowest for any one month since October 2007. The number of completed foreclosures for April totaled approximately 37 thousand, which is a decline of about 15 point 8 percent from April 2015’s total of 43 thousand.
A survey released Tuesday by Wells Fargo indicated that owning a home is still important to the majority of Americans. Wells Fargo’s third annual How America Views Homeownership survey found that 93 percent of those polled believe homeownership is an achievement to be proud of, 86 percent say owning a home is a dream come true, and 74 percent of respondents said they believe now is a good time to buy a home.