CoreLogic: Number of Completed Foreclosures Down for February

The number of completed foreclosures in February 2012 was down on a monthly basis and slightly on a year-over-year comparison, but overall, foreclosure inventory has decreased compared to a year ago, according to ""CoreLogic's"":http://www.corelogic.com/ National Foreclosure report for February.

*Completed foreclosures per thousand active loans for judicial vs. non-judicial states*

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Completed foreclosures are counted as properties that get auctioned off and purchased by a third party, such as an investor or lender.

For February 2012, 65,000 completed foreclosures were reported, compared to 66,000 in February 2011, and 71,000 in January 2012. The number of completed foreclosures over 12 months ending in February was 862,000. From the start of the financial crisis in September 2008, CoreLogic estimates 3.4 million completed foreclosures.

""Even though the pace of completed foreclosures has slowed, the overall foreclosure inventory is decreasing because REO sales were up in February,"" said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. ""With the spring buying season upon us, the inventory may decline further as the pace of distressed-asset sales rises along with the rest of the housing market.""

Approximately 1.4 million homes with a mortgage, or 3.4 percent, were in the foreclosure inventory as of February 2012. Nationally, the number of borrowers in the foreclosure inventory decreased by 115,000, a decline of 7.6 percent compared to February 2011. For the prior month of January 2012, no change was reported.

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The share of borrowers nationally that were 90 or more days late on their mortgage payment fell to 7.3 percent in February 2012 from 7.8 percent in February 2011, but up slightly from the 7.2 percent in January 2012.

The distressed clearing ratio for February 2012 moved up to 0.73 from 0.66 in January 2012. The distressed clearing ratio is calculated by dividing the number of REO sales by the number of completed foreclosures. A higher ratio means a faster pace of REO sales compared to the pace of completed foreclosures.

""In February, more than 60 major markets saw a decrease in their foreclosure rates compared to a year ago,"" said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. ""This combined with faster REO-clearing rates, better employment news, and continued historically low interest rates are all positive signs of improvement in the housing economy.""

Of the top 100 markets measured by Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) population, 33 showed an increase in the year-over-year change in the number of foreclosures in February 2012.

Five states with the largest number of completed foreclosures:

# California (154,000)
# Florida (87,000)
# Michigan (64,000)
# Arizona (63,000)
# Texas (58,000)

_These five states account for 49.4 percent of all completed foreclosures._

Five states with the highest foreclosure rates:

# Florida (12.0 percent)
# New Jersey (6.6 percent)
# Illinois (5.4 percent)
# Nevada (5.0 percent)
# New York (4.9 percent)

Five states with the lowest foreclosure rates:

# Wyoming (0.7 percent)
# Alaska (0.8 percent)
# North Dakota (0.8 percent)
# Nebraska (1.0 percent)
# Montana (1.4 percent)