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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM RECOVERY FINDS 'FOOTING' AS FORECLOSURES FALL: CORELOGIC Completed fore- closures continued a progressive decline in August as foreclosure inventory fell to its low- est level since April 2010, CoreLogic reported last month. In August of this year, 57,000 homes were lost to foreclosure, down from 58,000 in July and 75,000 a year earlier, according to CoreLogic's report. The yearly decrease represents a 24 percent decline. "August marks the fourth month in a row there were fewer completed foreclosures, which is more evidence that the housing industry is finding its footing," said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, 3.8 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. mortgage were also in the foreclosure process in August, with foreclosure inventory numbering about 1.3 million homes, or 3.2 percent of all homes with a mortgage, down from last year's 1.4 million homes, Core- Logic reported. Foreclo- sure inventory remained unchanged on a monthly basis. Anand Nallathambi, Fewer homes with a foreclosure prevention efforts for the decline. "The reduction in foreclosure volumes is to some degree being facilitated by the rising popularity of alternative resolution methods, such as short sales and loan modifications," said Nallathambi. While the national numbers are down, certain states are still seeing a high number of foreclosures with five states accounting for 48.1 percent of all completed foreclosures, according to CoreLogic. California led among the states with 110,000 completed foreclosures during the one-year period ending in August. Florida ranked second with 92,000 foreclosures, fol- lowed by Michigan (62,000), Texas (58,000), and Georgia (55,000). At the other end of the spectrum, South Dakota saw only 25 completed foreclosures. Other states with fewer foreclosures included Hawaii (435), North Dakota (564), and Maine (612). president and CEO of CoreLogic, gave credit to foreclosures, Florida took the lead for having the highest percentage of mortgaged homes in foreclosure inventory, leading with 11 percent. New Jersey came in second with 6.5 While California had the most completed percent of its outstanding mortgages winding through the foreclosure process, followed by New York (5.2 percent), Illinois (4.8 percent), and Nevada (4.6 percent). Nevada is the only non-judicial state among the top five. Four states had less than 1 percent of homes in foreclosure inventory: Wyoming (0.5 percent), Alaska (0.8 percent), North Dakota (0.8 percent), and Nebraska (0.9 percent). 51

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