Thank God for Florida and New Jersey – the Foreclosure Slogan for All Other States

Florida is #1 in Completed Foreclosures, #1 in Serious Delinquency Rate, #2 in Foreclosure Inventory and #2 in Percentage of Homes in Foreclosure.

Palm Coast, FL – April 29, 2014 – Florida continues to hold its ranking as one of the leading foreclosure states in the country. Along with New Jersey, our state shared #1 or #2 ranking in nearly all categories of foreclosure activity according to the March 2014 National Foreclosure Report  released today by CoreLogic. Michigan took the second spot in the Completed Foreclosures category.

A CoreLogic analysis shows 48,000 foreclosures were completed in March 2014, a 10 percent year-over-year decline from 53,000 in March 2013. By comparison, before the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures increased 5.9 percent. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure.

“The inventory of homes in foreclosure and serious delinquency status are back to 2008 levels, yet remain elevated from a historical perspective. While getting healthier, the housing market is a long way from being fully recovered. By way of comparison, distressed stock inventories are more than three times higher than the levels of the early 2000s, before the most-recent housing boom and subsequent financial crisis,” says Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

Highlights from the report:

• Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, approximately 5 million foreclosures have been completed.
• The national foreclosure inventory was down 37% compared to March 2013 and 5.1% compared to February 2014.
• The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of mortgaged homes are New Jersey (6.0%); Florida (5.8%); New York (4.6%); Maine (3.2%); and Hawaii (3.1%).
• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of mortgaged homes are Alaska (0.4%); Wyoming (0.5%); North Dakota (0.5%); Nebraska (0.5%); and Minnesota (0.6%).
• Five states with the greatest number of completed foreclosures during the past 12 months are Florida (122,000); Michigan (49,000); Texas (39,000); California (34,000); and Georgia (33,000).
• Five states, including the District of Columbia, with the lowest number of completed foreclosures during the past 12 months are D.C. (57); North Dakota (414); West Virginia (516); Hawaii(683); and Wyoming (714).
• At 10.3%, Florida leads all states in the percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages. New Jersey has a 9.9% delinquency rate. North Dakota’s rate is lowest at 1.1%.