Florida foreclosures fall in January

The foreclosure rate for Florida homes dropped by nearly half in January compared to the same time last year, another sign that the state’s housing market has recovered from the disastrous shocks of the financial crisis.

The percentage of Florida homes in foreclosure fell to 3.5 percent in January 2015, down from 6.4 percent in January 2014.

Those numbers come from a new report by the property analytics company CoreLogic.

"The foreclosure inventory continues to shrink with declines in all 50 states over the past 12 months," said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in a statement. "Florida, one of the hardest hit states during the foreclosure crisis, experienced a decline of almost 50 percent year over year, which is outstanding news."

Florida’s rate of homes in foreclosure was still the third-highest in the nation after New Jersey (5.2 percent) and New York (4.0 percent).

The state saw 111,321 foreclosures last year, according to the CoreLogic data. Nearly eight percent of foreclosed homes are believed to be in serious delinquency, meaning they are three months or more past due, the firm reported.

Nationally, the foreclosure rate fell to 1.4 percent, down from 2.0 percent.

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Florida foreclosures fall in January."