U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases 57% From October 2021
By RISMedia Staff
Nationwide one in every 4,339 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October 2022, according to a new report from ATTOM.
ATTOM’s October 2022 Foreclosure Market Report found that a total of 32,376 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions – up 57% from a year ago, but only up 2% from the prior month.
Key highlights:
States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 1,779 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,178 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 2,305); South Carolina (one in every 2,711); and Nevada (one in every 2,755).
Among the 223 metro areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates were Fayetteville, North Carolina (one in every 1,135); St. Louis, Missouri (one in every 1,177); Jacksonville, North Carolina (one in every 1,203); Cleveland, Ohio (one in every 1,624); and Spartanburg, South Carolina (one in every 1,729).
Those metro areas with a population greater than 1 million, with the worst foreclosure rates, including St. Louis and Cleveland were: Las Vegas, Nevada (one in every 2,062); Riverside, California (one in every 2,127); and Chicago, Illinois (one in every 2,154).
Lenders repossessed 4,156 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs), up 18% from last month and up 37% from last year.
States that had the greatest number of REOs, included: Illinois (1,100); New York (273); Pennsylvania (251); Michigan (239); and California (194).
Metro areas with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs included: St. Louis (841); Chicago (220); New York, New York (147); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (124); and Detroit, Michigan (98).
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 21,829 U.S. properties, down less than 1% from last month but up 103% from a year ago.
States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts included: California (2,594); Texas (1,901); Florida (1,528); New York (1,362); and Illinois (1,300).
Metro areas with a population greater than 1 million that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts included: New York (1,655); Chicago (1,107); Los Angeles, California (816); Philadelphia (788); and Miami, Florida (583).
Major takeaway:
“Even though foreclosure activity continues its slow, steady increase since the end of the government’s moratorium, we’re still far below normal levels,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “October foreclosure activity was about 59 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, and at its current pace foreclosures probably won’t be back to historically normal levels until sometime around mid-2023.”
Sharga added, “Repossessions in October were just under 31 percent of where they were in October of 2019. This suggests that borrowers in foreclosure have been able to sell their homes prior to the foreclosure auction, and that a higher percentage of properties at the auctions are being sold to third-party buyers. A new flood of REO homes seems increasingly unlikely to happen anytime soon.”
