There was a total of 11,673 U.S. properties with default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions in October, up 20 percent from a month ago but down 79 percent from a year ago, according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions.
“It’s a little surprising to see foreclosure activity increasing in spite of the various foreclosure moratoria that are in place,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of RealtyTrac, an ATTOM Data Solutions company. “It’s likely that many of these properties were already in the early stages of default prior to the pandemic, or are vacant and abandoned, which makes them candidates for expedited foreclosure actions.”
According to ATTOM’s October 2020 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report,
one in every 11,683 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October. The states with the highest foreclosure rates were South Carolina (one in every 6,133 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Nebraska (one in every 6,246 housing units); Alabama (one in every 6,660 housing units); Louisiana (one in every 7,078 housing units); and Florida (one in every 7,208 housing units).
The highest foreclosure rates for metropolitan areas in October were in Peoria, Ill. (one in every 1,543 housing units); Champaign, Ill. (one in every 1,674 housing units); Beaumont, Texas (one in every 1,880 housing units); Birmingham, Ala. (one in every 1,993 housing units); and Houma, La. (one in every 2,964 housing units).
The highest foreclosure rates for metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million were in Cleveland (one in every 4,511 housing units); Jacksonville, Fla. (one in every 5,119 housing units); New Orleans (one in every 6,397 housing units); and Miami (one in every 6,794 housing units).
ATTOM said the metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the greatest number of foreclosure starts in October 2020 were New York (485 foreclosure starts); Chicago (240 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles (196 foreclosure starts); Miami (151 foreclosure starts); and Houston (143 foreclosure starts).
“It’s probably not a surprise that almost all of the metro areas where foreclosure activity increased on a month-over-month basis are also places where unemployment rates are higher than the national average, and in many cases have been hotspots of COVID-19 infections,” Sharga said. “Still, it’s important to keep the numbers in context – even with these increases, overall foreclosure actions are still below last year’s levels by about 80 percent.”