CoreLogic released its National Foreclosure Report, which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the overall foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in December 2012, down from 71,000 in December 2011, a year-over-year decrease of 21 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell from 58,000* in November 2012 to the current 56,000, a decrease of 3 percent.

As a basis of comparison, prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 4.1 million completed foreclosures across the country.

Approximately 1.2 million homes were in the national foreclosure inventory as of December 2012 compared to 1.5 million in December 2011, a 19.5 percent year-over-year decrease. Month over month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 4.2 percent from November 2012 to December 2012. The foreclosure inventory is the share of all mortgaged homes in any stage of the foreclosure process. The national foreclosure inventory as of December 2012 represented 3 percent of all homes with a mortgage.

“The most encouraging foreclosure trend reported here is that the inventory of foreclosed properties is almost 20 percent smaller than a year ago,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “This big improvement indicates we are working toward resolving the backlog of the most distressed assets in the shadow inventory.”

“The rate of foreclosures continues to trend down, albeit at a slower rate as we exit 2012,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive officer of CoreLogic. “This trend should continue into 2013 and is another positive signal that the gradual healing process in the housing market is gaining traction.”

Highlights as of December 2012:

• The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2012 were: California (100,000), Florida (98,000), Michigan (74,000), Texas (57,000) and Georgia (49,000). These five states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.

• The five states with the lowest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in December 2012 were: District of Columbia (89), Hawaii (421), North Dakota (521), Maine (537) and West Virginia (645).

• The five states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Florida (10.1 percent), New Jersey (7 percent), New York (5.1 percent), Nevada (4.7 percent) and Illinois (4.5 percent).

• The five states with the lowest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes were: Wyoming (0.4 percent), Alaska (0.6 percent), North Dakota (0.7 percent), Nebraska (0.8 percent) and Colorado (1 percent).

*November data was revised. Revisions are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates newly released data to provide updated results.