In the month of July, 38,000 U.S. home foreclosures were completed, down 6.2% month over month and down 24.4% from a total of 650,000 in July 2014, according to CoreLogic. The research firm also notes that the current foreclosure inventory totals 1.2% of all homes with a mortgage in the United States, down from 1.7% in July of 2014.

The number of U.S. homes currently in some stage of foreclosure totals approximately 469,000, compared with 650,000 in July 2014. That represents a decline in the national foreclosure inventory of 27.9%.

The four states and the District of Columbia with the largest foreclosed inventory as a percentage of mortgaged properties are New Jersey (4.8%), New York (3.7%), Florida (2.7%), Hawaii (2.5%) and D.C. (2.4%). The five states with the lowest inventories of foreclosed properties are Alaska (0.3%), Minnesota (0.4%), Nebraska (0.4%), North Dakota (0.4%) and Utah (0.4%).

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures in the past 12 months were Florida (98,000), Michigan (47,000), Texas (33,000), California (27,000) and Georgia (27,000). The five states with the fewest foreclosures in the prior 12 months through July were South Dakota (33), District of Columbia (124), North Dakota (316), Wyoming (483) and West Virginia (553).

CoreLogic’s chief economist said:

Job market gains and home-price appreciation help to push serious delinquency and foreclosure rates lower.

The company’s CEO added:

The recovery in the housing market is also reflected in declining delinquency and foreclosure rates which, to some degree, reflects the progressive clearing of crisis-era loans and the benefits of tighter underwriting standards over the past six years.

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The five metropolitan areas with the largest inventories of foreclosed properties are New York City (3.8%), Tampa (3.4%), Orlando (2.4%), Chicago (1.8%) and Baltimore (1.7%).

According to CoreLogic, the current foreclosure rate of 1.2% is the lowest since December of 2007 and the foreclosure inventory has declined every month for the past 45 months.

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