Foreclosure inventory declined by 21.7%, and completed foreclosures declined by 16.2% compared with January 2015, CoreLogic's latest January 2016 National Foreclosure Report showed.

The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year-over-year from 46,000 in January 2015 to 38,000 in January 2016. The number of completed foreclosures in January 2016 was down 67.6% from the peak in September 2010 of 117,743.

The foreclosure inventory represents the number of homes at some stage of the foreclosure process, whereas completed foreclosures reflect the total number of homes lost to foreclosure. This marks 6.1 million completed foreclosures across the country since September 2008.

“In January, the national foreclosure rate was 1.2%, down to one-third the peak from exactly five years earlier In January 2011, a remarkable improvement,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said. “The months’ supply of foreclosure fell to 12 months, which is modestly above the nine-month rate seen 10 years earlier and indicates the market’s ability to clear the stock of foreclosures is close to normal.”

The number of mortgages in serious delinquency, defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure or REO, declined by 22.5% year-over-year.

“The improvement in distressed properties continues across the country in every state which is contributing to the lack of stock of available homes and resulting price escalation in many markets,” CoreLogic president and CEO Anand Nallathambi said.

“So far the trend toward lower delinquency and foreclosures has been immune from shocks from such things as the collapse in oil prices attesting to the durability of the housing recovery,” he said.