A recovering economy and healthier housing market has pushed the number of seriously delinquent mortgages (90 days ore more past due) in March to the lowest level since May 2008, according to a new report from CoreLogic.
Economists expect the trend to last. “Foreclosures and serious delinquency rates continue to drop as the home purchase market begins to emerge from its eight-year slump,’ CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi said in a statement.
Related: Why the Housing Market Is About to Perk Up
The country’s foreclosure inventory fell 25.7 percent and completed foreclosures dropped 15.5 percent year-over-year. At 41,000 completed foreclosures, the monthly total has fallen by nearly two-thirds since peaking in September 2010.
Even with the declines, the number of foreclosures is still above historical norms. Completed foreclosures averaged just 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006. Since September 2008, 5.6 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.
The number of seriously delinquent mortgages fell nearly 20 percent from March 2015 to 2015 to 1.5 million mortgages.
Related: The Foreclosure Nightmare that Won’t Go Away
Florida had the most completed foreclosures (110,000) in the country over the past year, according to the report, followed by Michigan (50,000), Texas (34,000), Georgia (28,000), and Ohio (28,000).
South Dakota had the fewest completed foreclosures, with just 16 homes going back to the banks in that state.
Sales of single-family homes increased 19 percent from March 2014 to March 2013, and the average sale prices spiked more than $10,000 to $343,000.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
