CoreLogic: Fewer foreclosures in R.I. for February

RHODE ISLAND'S FORECLOSURE rate fell to 2.1 percent in February, according to CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for January was 1.9 percent, and the Massachusetts rate was 1.3 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
RHODE ISLAND'S FORECLOSURE rate fell to 2.1 percent in February, according to CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for January was 1.9 percent, and the Massachusetts rate was 1.3 percent. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

IRVINE, Calif. – Rhode Island’s foreclosure rate fell to 2.1 percent in February from 3 percent a year earlier, but remained slightly higher than the national rate of 1.9 percent, according to a report released Thursday by real estate data firm CoreLogic.

The 2.1 percent rate reported for February also represented a decline from January’s 2.2 percent foreclosure rate, defined as the percentage of all residential mortgages in some part of the foreclosure process.

There were 1,488 foreclosures in Rhode Island during the 12 months ended Feb. 28, fewer than during the 12-month period through the end of January, when there were 1,524 foreclosures. CoreLogic put Rhode Island’s “serious delinquency rate” – the percentage of loans at least 90 days past due – at 6.4 percent for February, the same as the delinquency rate a month earlier.

In Massachusetts, foreclosure inventory fell six-tenths of a percentage point year over year to 1.3 percent in February, compared with 1.9 percent in February 2013. January’s rate was also 1.3 percent.

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Actual foreclosures in the 12-month period ended in February totaled 2,902 in the Bay State, rising from 2,681 completed foreclosures in the 12 months through Jan. 31. The serious delinquency rate for Massachusetts was 4.6 percent in February, a slight decline from the 4.7 percent rate reported the previous month.

The national foreclosure rate of 1.9 percent fell from 2 percent in January and from 2.9 percent in February 2013. Completed foreclosures for the 12-month period through February totaled 606,072, compared with 607,370 in the 12 months through January. The serious delinquency rate dropped slightly to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in January.

“Although there is good news that completed foreclosures are trending lower, the bigger news is the impressive decline in the foreclosure and shadow inventories,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Every state has had double-digit, year-over-year declines in foreclosure inventory, which is reflected in the $70 billion decline in the shadow inventory.”

CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi said, “The stock of seriously delinquent homes and the foreclosure rate are back to levels last seen in the final quarter of 2008.”

The states with the highest percentage of foreclosure inventory included New Jersey at 6.2 percent, Florida at 6 percent, New York at 4.7 percent, Maine at 3.4 percent and Connecticut at 3.2 percent.

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