Foreclosures continue to fall in R.I., nation

FORECLOSURES FELL in R.I., Mass. and across the country in June / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DANIEL ACKER
FORECLOSURES FELL in R.I., Mass. and across the country in June / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/DANIEL ACKER

IRVINE, Calif. – Rhode Island’s rate of mortgaged homes in the process of foreclosure fell to 2.3 percent in June, a 0.7 percentage point year-to-year decrease, according to a monthly national foreclosure report released Tuesday by property information provider CoreLogic.
Foreclosures continued a gradual decline nationwide.
The Ocean State saw 1,583 completed foreclosures in June. Nationally, there were roughly 55,000 completed foreclosures in June, falling from 68,000 in June 2012.
That number was still well above the average of 21,000 foreclosures per month between 2000 and 2006, before the housing market bubble burst and the recession started.
The national foreclosure inventory — a measure of all homes in some stage of foreclosure — dropped from 1.4 million homes in June 2012 to 1 million in June 2013, a 28 percent decrease. That inventory constituted 2.5 percent of the country’s mortgaged homes, just above Rhode Island’s rate but below the June 2012 rate of 3.4 percent.
“The housing market is clearly on the mend, but we expect the ultimate conclusion of the present housing down cycle to be another several years away,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in prepared remarks.
The percentage of serious delinquencies in Rhode Island in June was 6.6 percent, the ninth-highest in the nation.
Month to month, the number of completed foreclosures nationwide increased, rising 2.5 percent from the 53,000 foreclosures in May.
Massachusetts had a 1.8 percent foreclosure inventory in June, down 0.2 percentage points from June 2012, and 3,509 completed foreclosures. Its serious delinquency rate was 5.0 percent.
“So far this year, distressed inventories have fallen dramatically, down 14.4 percent, and serious delinquencies are down 15.9 percent,” Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, said in a statement.
In Massachusetts, foreclosures spiraled downward in June, according to a report released Tuesday by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
The Bay State recorded 245 foreclosure petitions, the first step in foreclosures, in June, an 84 percent year-to-year drop and the lowest number since The Warren Group began gathering the data in 2006. Year to date, the number of foreclosure petitions filed fell nearly 69 percent from the first half of 2012.
Foreclosure deeds, the final step in the foreclosure process, also fell 56 percent year to year in June in Massachusetts, but the 329 deeds filed represented the highest monthly total yet in 2013. Advertised auction notices dropped as well, decreasing 45 percent year to year to 607 in June.

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