Foreclosures, delinquent mortgages decline nationwide in May

Completed foreclosures dropped off 27% in May from a year earlier, while the backlog of homes in the repossession process fell as well, a new report said.

Research firm CoreLogic said Tuesday there were 52,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in May. While down from May 2012, that figure is 3.5% higher than April and remains elevated—completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 a month before the housing crash.

Still, fewer Americans are becoming stuck in the foreclosure process, a sign the market continues to mend and that fewer Americans will likely lose their home in the near future.

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The number of homes in the foreclosure process fell 29% from a year earlier to roughly 1 million homes in May, CoreLogic said.

“We continue to see a sharp drop in foreclosures around the country and with it a decrease in the size of the shadow inventory,” CoreLogic CEO Anand Nallathambi said in a statement. “We are particularly encouraged by the broad-based nature of the housing market recovery so far in 2013.”

Mortgages that were seriously deliquent — 90 days or more past due — fell in May to the lowest level since December 2008.

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