Last month saw 61,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S., down from 75,000 in January 2012, a year-over-year decrease of 17.8%, according to new data from Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic. However, on a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures rose 10.5% from 56,000 in December 2012.
Approximately 1.2 million homes were in some stage of foreclosure last month, compared to 1.5 million in January 2012, a 21% year-over-year decrease. This was the 15th consecutive month with a year-over-year decline. Month-over-month, the foreclosure inventory was down 3.3%. The foreclosure inventory as of last month represented 2.9% of all homes with a mortgage, compared to 3.5% in January 2012.
The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in January were California (96,000), Florida (95,000), Michigan (74,000), Texas (59,000) and Georgia (50,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.