Five states dominate dwindling foreclosure inventory

As the foreclosure crisis continues to recede, some parts of the country remain at elevated levels.

Five states now account for nearly half of all the completed foreclosures in the nation -Florida, Michigan, California, Texas and Georgia, according to CoreLogic’s latest foreclosure report.

Foreclosures made up 10 percent of sales in December, while short sales comprised 4 percent of sales, according to the National Association of Realtors’ existing-home sales report for December.

“Clearly, 2013 was a transitional year for residential property in the United States,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Higher home prices and lower shadow inventory levels, together with a slowly improving economy, are hopeful signals that we are turning a long-awaited corner. The housing market should continue to heal in 2014, but we expect progress to remain very slow.”

On average, foreclosures sold for an average discount of 18 percent below market value in December, while short sales were discounted 13 percent, NAR reports.

CoreLogic reported that completed foreclosures fell 14 percent in December in year-over-year statistics.

Inventories are also falling. About 837,000 homes in the United States in December were in some state of foreclosure or known as foreclosure inventory, compared with 1.2 million in December 2012 – a 31 percent year-over-year decrease, CoreLogic noted.