CoreLogic: U.S. foreclosures down in August

Irvine, Calif.-based real estate market tracker CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) reported 45,000 completed foreclosures nationwide in August.

Year to year, August's figure was down 22.2 percent from 58,000 foreclosures in the same month of 2013. August was up 1.1 percent from July foreclosures of 44,000, according to a news release.

The U.S. foreclosure inventory - defined as homes in some stage of the foreclosure process - was roughly 629,000 in August, a 32.8 percent drop from 936,000 in the corresponding month last year.

"Clearly, there has been a large improvement in the market the last few years, but five years into the economic expansion, the foreclosure inventory remains at nearly three times the normal level," said Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, in the release. "Since homeownership rates peaked in the second quarter of 2004, there have been 7 million completed foreclosures, which account for 15 percent of all mortgages."

For the 12 months ending in August, Missouri experienced 12,142 foreclosures, down 23.2 percent from 15,816 for the year ended in August 2013, according to the release.

During August, Missouri's foreclosure inventory was 0.6 percent, down two-tenths of a point from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic.[[In-content Ad]]