The nationwide foreclosure inventory declined by 30 percent in December 2016 and completed foreclosures declined by 40 percent, compared to December 2015, according to a report released today by CoreLogic, a global property information and analytics firm.

The number of completed foreclosures nationwide fell year over year from 36,000 in December 2015 to 21,000 in December 2016, a decrease of 82 percent from the peak of 118,336 in September 2010. On a month-over-month basis, the December 2016 foreclosure inventory fell 1.9 percent compared with November 2016.

Lenders filed 866 petitions to foreclose on Massachusetts homes in December, compared with 1,236 filed in December of last year, a decline of 29.9 percent, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The real estate information provider reports there have been a total of 6,169 deeds recorded in Massachusetts year to date, a 40.2 percent increase from the 4,400 filed through December 2015.

Since the financial crisis began in September 2008, there have been approximately 6.5 million completed foreclosures nationally, according to CoreLogic.

The national foreclosure inventory as of December 2016 included approximately 329,000, or 0.8 percent, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 467,000 homes, or 1.2 percent, in December 2015.

CoreLogic also reported that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency (defined as 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure or REO) declined by 19.4 percent from December 2015 to December 2016 with 1 million mortgages, or 2.6 percent, in serious delinquency, the lowest level since August 2007.

“While the decline in serious delinquency has been geographically broad, some oil-producing markets have shown the effects of low oil prices on the housing market,” Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic said in a statement. “Serious delinquency rates rose in Louisiana, Wyoming and North Dakota, reflecting the weakness in oil production.”

“Foreclosure and delinquency trends continue to head in the right direction powered principally by increasing employment levels, stringent underwriting standards and higher home prices over the past few years. We expect to see further declines in delinquency and foreclosure rates in 2017,” Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic said in a statement. “As the foreclosure inventory diminishes, we must look ahead and tackle tight housing supply and growing affordability issues which are keeping many potential homebuyers, especially first-time buyers, on the sidelines.”