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According to CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report for September, some 57,000 foreclosures in the United States were completed in September 2012. That was down about 31% from 83,000 in September 2011, as well as down more than 3% from a revised 59,000 in August 2012.

Completed foreclosures indicate the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, Approximately 3.9 million foreclosures have been completed across the country.

Around 1.4 million homes, or 3.3% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of September 2012. That compares with 1.5 million, or 3.5%, in September 2011. The national foreclosure inventory was down 1.1% between August and September 2012. Foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in any stage of the foreclosure process.

For the 12 months ending in September 2012, the five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures were California (108,000), Florida (92,000), Texas (59,000), Georgia (55,000) and Michigan (51,000). These five states account for 47.7% of all completed foreclosures nationally.

The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were Florida (11.5%), New Jersey (7.3%), New York (5.3%), Illinois (5.2%) and Nevada (4.9%).

Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said:

The continuing downward trend in foreclosures along with a gradual clearing of the shadow inventory are signs of stabilization and improvement in the housing market.

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, added:

While there is significant progress to be made before returning to pre-crisis levels, the trend is in the right direction as short sales, up 27 percent year over year in August, continue to gain popularity.