There has been a small drop in the number of homes in the US going into foreclosure, according to the latest figures from data provider CoreLogic, which shows that they accounted for 3.3% of the national market in September, down from 3.5% a year ago.

According to the report, there were 57,000 completed foreclosures in the US in September 2012, down from 83,000 in September 2011 and 59,000 in August 2012.

Prior to the decline in the housing market in 2007, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006. Completed foreclosures are an indication of the total number of homes actually lost to foreclosure. Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.9m completed foreclosures across the country.

However, a further 1.4m homes, or 3.3% of all homes with a mortgage, were in the national foreclosure inventory as of September 2012 compared to 1.5m in September 2011. Month on month, the national foreclosure inventory was down 1.1% from August 2012 to September 2012.

The latest figures mean that homes lost to foreclosure in September 2012 are down 50% since the peak month in September 2010 and 22% less than the beginning of the year.