The nation’s foreclosure markets have been showing considerable improvement in 2013, but did that trend continue in August?

The good news continued for the nation’s foreclosure markets, according to CoreLogic’s latest National Foreclosure Report, with foreclosure inventory, completed foreclosures and serious delinquencies all showing progress.

Mark Fleming, the chief economist for CoreLogic, said with the progress that has been made, any spikes in distressed properties is unlikely.

“A surge in completed foreclosures and a rise in the foreclosure inventory is unlikely, given continued house price improvements and shortages of supply in many markets,” Fleming said.

Here in Chicagoland, the news was positive as well. Though foreclosure inventory remains relatively high at 3.9 percent, that’s down 2.3 percentage points – or, a whopping 37 percent – from last year, and the 19,981 foreclosures completed was the second highest in the nation among metro areas. Similarly, Illinois’ inventory was down 2.0 percentage points to 3.3 percent of all mortgaged properties, and more than 31,000 foreclosures have been completed.

But still, there remains room for improvement; the serious delinquency rates for the city and state are still 8.2 and 7.1 percent, respectively.

Interested in the main findings of CoreLogic’s report? Check out our infographic below: