The number of residential foreclosures declined 21 percent in December, compared to December 2011. According to data released by CoreLogic, a leading residential property analyst, 56,000 residential foreclosures were completed in December, down from 71,000 in December 2011. Meanwhile, the total inventory of properties in the national foreclosure inventory declined 19.5 percent. “Since the financial crisis began in September 2008,” CoreLogic says, “there have been approximately 4.1 million completed foreclosures across the country.”
For background on the history of mortgage lending and homeownership in postwar Southern California, read Building Home: Howard F. Ahmanson and the Politics of the American Dream.