The number of completed foreclosures and the U.S. foreclosure inventory dropped sharply in November compared with this time last year, according to a report from real estate data and analytics provider CoreLogic.

There were 46,000 completed foreclosures in the United States in November 2013, a year-over-year decrease of 29 percent from 64,000 in November 2012. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures decreased 8.3 percent, from 50,000 in October 2013. Prior to the housing crash, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month nationwide between 2000 and 2006.

U.S. foreclosure inventory dropped 34 percent with 812,000 homes in some stage of foreclosure in November, compared with 1.2 million in November 2012. Month over month, the foreclosure inventory was down 4.6 percent from October to November. Foreclosure inventory as of November represented 2.1 percent of all homes with a mortgage compared with 3 percent in November 2012.

In Massachusetts, foreclosure inventory was at 1.3 in November, down 0.7 percent from one year ago.

Fewer than 2 million mortgages, or 5 percent, were in serious delinquency at the end of November. Serious delinquency is defined as 90 days or more past due, including those loans in foreclosure or real estate owned (REO). The rate of seriously delinquent mortgages is at its lowest level since November 2008.

"Nationally, loan performance continues to improve. The rate of seriously delinquent loans is at a new five-year low, down 26 percent relative to a year ago," Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. "The shadow inventory continues to decline as well, decreasing at an average monthly rate of 46,000 units over the last year. Healthy market levels of shadow inventory are around 650,000 units, so there is more to be done, but the trend is in the right direction."

"Consumer confidence is definitely up as the economic rebound gathers more steam," Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. "As the negative equity crisis abates and home prices continue to rise, most people are prioritizing the payment of their mortgage obligations. The result is a double-digit drop in the inventory of seriously delinquent homes in 48 states as of October."

The five states with the highest number of completed foreclosures for the 12 months ending in November were Florida (115,000), Michigan (54,000), California (42,000), Texas (40,000) and Georgia (36,000). These states account for almost half of all completed foreclosures nationally.