Foreclosure indicators are continuing at levels well above those considered normal by the housing industry, and that CoreLogic said in its August Foreclosure Report can increasingly be accounted for by loan vintage. CoreLogic said today that there were 36,000 completed foreclosures in August, down 20.1 percent from the 46,000 that were completed in August 2014.  Foreclosures are now running at a rate 68.9 percent below the peak number in September 2010 when 117,457 homes were foreclosed in a single month.  The August foreclosure rate (percentage of completed foreclosures to mortgaged homes) was 1.2 percent, the same as in early 2008.

August foreclosures were higher by less than a rounding error from the 36,000 reported in July.  CoreLogic says that before the decline in the housing market there were typically about 21,000 foreclosures per month in the U.S.

Foreclosures continue to be concentrated in a few states and those states seem to change little from month to month.  Over the 12 months ending in August more than half of all foreclosures occurred in Florida (94,000), Michigan (47,000), Texas (32,000), California (27,000) and Georgia (26,000).

In August there were an estimated 470,000 homes nationwide in the process of foreclosure (the foreclosure inventory.)  This number had declined a quarter since the previous August when 629,000 homes were in the inventory.  The recent number represented 1.2 percent of all mortgaged homes in the country, down from a rate of 1.6 percent a year earlier.

CoreLogic says that there have been approximately 5.9 million homes lost to foreclosure since the more or less official start of the financial crisis in September 2008.

The foreclosure pipeline is narrowing at its opening with the number of serious delinquencies, loans 90 or more days past due including those in foreclosure or REO, falling by 20.7 percent over the 12 months ended in August.  There were 1.3 million homes or 3.5 percent of those with a mortgage in this category; the lowest serious delinquency rate since January 2008.

"Mortgage performance continues to improve, however there is a dichotomy between the performance of recently originated loans and legacy loans. Newly delinquent loans are at the lowest rates during the last two decades. That reflects the tight underwriting and improved economy during the last few years," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "However, the foreclosure pipeline of legacy loans remains elevated. Over the last 12 months, there have been 500,000 completed foreclosures, more than double the number during normal periods."

"In August, the housing market experienced solid and steady increases in sales, prices and performance and our preview data indicates those trends will continue in September," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Longer term, the recent increase in household formations and rapidly improving labor market for millennials will provide a demographic tailwind to the housing market and keep demand firm."