Foreclosures fall to lowest level since 2007

The number of foreclosures in August fell on a yearly basis to their lowest level since 2007, a month before the recession started.

There were 45,000 completed foreclosures across the country in August, down from 58,000 in August 2013, a decrease of 22.2 percent, representing 19 straight months of at least a 20-percent decline, CoreLogic said on Thursday.

{mosads}”At current foreclosure rates, the shadow inventory could fall below 500,000 units by year end, which could provide a solid boost to the recovery in housing in 2015,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

Foreclosures were up slightly by 1.1 percent from the 44,000 reported in July.

Before the housing crash in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 a month between 2000 and 2006.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 5.2 million completed foreclosures across the country.

As of August, approximately 629,000 homes nationally were in some stage of foreclosure compared with 936,000 in August 2013, a decrease of 32.8 percent.

On a monthly basis, the foreclosure inventory was down 2.6 percent from July, 34 months of consecutive year-over-year declines.

Other highlights from the report: 

• All but two states posted double-digit declines in foreclosures over the past 12 months. The District of Columbia saw a 2.5 percent decline and Wyoming had a 13.4-percent increase.

• 28 states show declines in year-over-year foreclosure inventory of greater than 30 percent, with Utah and Idaho each posting declines at 46 percent.

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in August 2014 were: Florida (121,000), Michigan (43,000), Texas (36,000), California (32,000) and Georgia (28,000), accounting for half of all completed foreclosures.

• The four states and the District of Columbia with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in August 2014 were: South Dakota (65), the District of Columbia (110), North Dakota (296), West Virginia (462) and Wyoming (650).