CoreLogic indicated that completed foreclosures continued to reduce in September, falling 31 percent from a year ago. The analytics company reported the number of homes lost to foreclosure in September dropped to 57,000 nationwide. The decline is a steep drop from 83,000 in September 2011, and a decrease from the upwardly revised 59,000 in August.

In addition to the monthly and yearly declines, Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said completed foreclosures are also down 50 percent since the peak month in September 2010 and are 22 percent less than the beginning of the year.

Before the housing crises, completed foreclosures were much lower than the sinking figures reported recently. Between 2000 and 2006, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month.