Foreclosure, delinquency rates drop in R.I. and Mass. in Nov.

BROAD-BASED IMPROVEMENT IN FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY saw the foreclosure rate for Rhode Island and Massachusetts fall in November on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis. / COURTESY CORELOGIC
BROAD-BASED IMPROVEMENT IN FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY saw the foreclosure rate for Rhode Island and Massachusetts fall in November on both a year-over-year and month-over-month basis. / COURTESY CORELOGIC

IRVINE, Calif. – The foreclosure rate for residential mortgages in Rhode Island and Massachusetts declined in November, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic in a report issued Thursday.
The rate for the Ocean State fell eight-tenths of a percentage point to 2.1 percent in November from 2.9 percent a year earlier, the same as the national foreclosure rate of 2.1 percent. The November rate also represented a decline from October’s 2.4 percent foreclosure rate, defined as the percentage of all residential mortgages in some part of the foreclosure process.
The number of completed foreclosures in the 12 months through the end of November totaled 1,506 in Rhode Island, a slight drop from the 1,518 that had been recorded in the 12 months through the end of October.
In addition, CoreLogic gave the “serious delinquency rate,” that is, the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due, as 6.4 percent in November, compared with 6.5 percent in October.
Data for the Bay State showed a similar improvement. Foreclosure inventory fell seven-tenths of a percentage point year over year to 1.3 percent in November, compared with the 2.1 percent national average. October’s rate had been 1.5 percent.
Actual foreclosures in the 12-month period ended Nov. 30 totaled 2,815, a drop from the 2,900 completed in the 12 months through Oct. 31.
And finally, the serious delinquency rate for Massachusetts was 4.7 percent in November, a slight improvement on the 4.8 percent a month earlier.
The national foreclosure rate of 2.1 percent represented a one-tenth of a percentage point drop from October and a nine-tenths of a percentage point decline from November 2012. Completed foreclosures for the 12-month period through November totaled 622,686, compared with 636,352 in the 12 months through October. The serious delinquency rate clocked in at 5 percent in November, also a decline, from 5.1 percent in October.
“Nationally, loan performance continues to improve,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The rate of seriously delinquent loans is at a new five-year low, down 26 percent relative to a year ago.”
Additionally, CoreLogic President and CEO Anand Nallathambi said that “As the negative equity crisis abates and home prices continue to rise, most people are prioritizing the payment of their mortgage obligations. The result is a double-digit drop in the inventory of seriously delinquent homes in 48 states as of October.”
The states with the highest percentage of foreclosure inventory included Florida (6.6 percent), New Jersey (6.5 percent), New York (4.7 percent), and Connecticut and Maine (both 3.5 percent).

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