OCC and OTS Mortgage Metrics Report

Appendix D—Completed Foreclosures

Overview

Foreclosures are completed when ownership of the property is transferred to the servicer or investor and the debt is extinguished. The foreclosure process varies by state and can take from two to 12 months to complete.

The number of completed foreclosures in the third quarter increased nearly 8 percent, rising to 127,738.

Prime loans constitute 42 percent of all completed foreclosures in the third quarter and 67 percent of all loans. Subprime loans constitute 24 percent of all completed foreclosures in the third quarter and 9 percent of all loans.

Many loans that start the foreclosure process never result in foreclosure of the property. On average, the foreclosure process takes about six months to complete. A foreclosure completion rate can be approximated by comparing the number of completed foreclosures with the number of newly initiated foreclosures six months earlier. The 127,738 foreclosures completed during the third quarter represented about 44 percent of the newly initiated foreclosures during the first quarter.