CoreLogic Reports 34,000 Completed Foreclosures in February 2016

April 12, 2016, Irvine, Calif. – CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider, today released its February 2016 National Foreclosure Report which shows the foreclosure inventory declined by 23.9 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 10 percent compared with February 2015. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 38,000 in February 2015 to 34,000 in February 2016. The number of completed foreclosures in February 2016 was down 71.3 percent from the peak of 117,776 in September 2010.

The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process and completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.2 million completed foreclosures across the country, and since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been approximately 8.2 million homes lost to foreclosure.

As of February 2016, the national foreclosure inventory included approximately 434,000, or 1.1 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 571,000 homes, or 1.5 percent, in February 2015. The February 2016 foreclosure inventory rate is the lowest for any month since November 2007.

CoreLogic also reports that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 19.9 percent from February 2015 to February 2016, with 1.3 million mortgages, or 3.2 percent, in this category. The February 2016 serious delinquency rate is the lowest in eight years, since November 2007.

"Job creation averaged 207,000 during the first two months of 2016, and incomes grew over the past year," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "More income and improved household finances have helped bring serious delinquency rates down in nearly every state.  However, serious delinquency rates increased in North Dakota and West Virginia, two states affected by price declines for the energy fuel each produces."

"Home price gains have clearly been a driving force in building positive equity for homeowners," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Longer term, we anticipate a better balance of supply with demand in many markets which will help sustain heathy and affordable home values into the future."

Additional February 2016 highlights:

• On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased by 13.9 percent to 34,000 in February 2016 from the 39,000 reported for January 2016.* As a basis of 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, the foreclosure inventory was down 2.6 percent in February 2016 compared to January 2016.
• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in February 2016 were Florida (72,000), Michigan (49,000), Texas (29,000), California (25,000) and Ohio (23,000). These five states accounted for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.
• Four states and the District of Columbia had the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in February 2016: The District of Columbia (113), North Dakota (312), Wyoming (574), West Virginia (627) and Alaska (682).
• Four states and the District of Columbia had the highest foreclosure inventory rates in February 2016: New Jersey (4.0 percent), New York (3.4 percent), Hawaii (2.3 percent), Florida (2.2 percent) and the District of Columbia (2.2 percent).
• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory rate in February 2016 were Alaska (0.3 percent), Minnesota (0.4 percent), Arizona (0.4 percent), Colorado (0.4 percent) and Utah (0.4 percent).

*January 2016 data was revised. Revisions are standard, and to ensure accuracy CoreLogic incorporates newly released data to provide updated results.

For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog: http://www.corelogic.com/blog.

Methodology

The data in this report represents foreclosure activity reported through January 2016.

This report separates state data into judicial versus non-judicial foreclosure state categories. In judicial foreclosure states, lenders must provide evidence to the courts of delinquency in order to move a borrower into foreclosure. In non-judicial foreclosure states, lenders can issue notices of default directly to the borrower without court intervention. This is an important distinction since judicial states, as a rule, have longer foreclosure timelines, thus affecting foreclosure statistics.

A completed foreclosure occurs when a property is auctioned and results in the purchase of the home at auction by either a third party, such as an investor, or by the lender. If the home is purchased by the lender, it is moved into the lender's real estate-owned (REO) inventory. In "foreclosure by advertisement" states, a redemption period begins after the auction and runs for a statutory period, e.g., six months. During that period, the borrower may regain the foreclosed home by paying all amounts due as calculated under the statute. For purposes of this Foreclosure Report, because so few homes are actually redeemed following an auction, it is assumed that the foreclosure process ends in "foreclosure by advertisement" states at the completion of the auction.

The foreclosure inventory represents the number and share of mortgaged homes that have been placed into the process of foreclosure by the mortgage servicer. Mortgage servicers start the foreclosure process when the mortgage reaches a specific level of serious delinquency as dictated by the investor for the mortgage loan. Once a foreclosure is "started," and absent the borrower paying all amounts necessary to halt the foreclosure, the home remains in foreclosure until the completed foreclosure results in the sale to a third party at auction or the home enters the lender's REO inventory. The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The foreclosure inventory is measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Generally, homes with no mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. Approximately one-third of homes nationally are owned outright and do not have a mortgage. CoreLogic has approximately 85 percent coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.