There were 65,082 properties with foreclosure filings in the first six months of the year, according to ATTOM’s Midyear 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. That’s down 61 percent year-over-year and down 78 percent from the same period two years ago.
“The government’s foreclosure moratorium and mortgage forbearance program have created an unprecedented situation: historically high numbers of seriously delinquent loans and historically low levels of foreclosure activity,” RealtyTrac Vice President Rick Sharga said in a release. RealtyTrac is an ATTOM company. “With the moratorium scheduled to end on July 31, and half of the remaining borrowers in forbearance scheduled to exit that program over the next six months, we should start to get a more accurate read on the level of financial distress the pandemic has caused for homeowners across the country.”
Nationwide, 0.05 percent of all housing units (one in every 2,112) had a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2021. States with the highest foreclosure rates in that period were Delaware (0.10 percent of homes with a foreclosure filing); Illinois (0.09 percent); Florida (0.08 percent); Ohio (0.08 percent); Indiana (0.08 percent); New Jersey (0.07 percent); Nevada (0.07 percent); South Carolina (0.07 percent); Louisiana (0.06 percent); and New Mexico (0.06 percent).
Metro areas bucking the national trend with increasing foreclosure activity compared with a year ago were Tyler, Texas, (up 88 percent); Brownsville, Texas, (up 21 percent); Springfield, Ill., (up 19 percent); Sioux Falls, S.D., (up 9 percent); and Lake Charles, La., (up 5 percent).
A total of 36,742 properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of the year, down 63 percent from the first half of last year but up 14 percent from the last half of 2020. States that saw the greatest decline in foreclosure starts year-over-year were Maryland (down 95 percent); Oklahoma (down 87 percent); Pennsylvania (down 81 percent); Idaho (down 78 percent); and New Mexico (down 76 percent).
A total of 33,964 properties had foreclosure filings in the second quarter of 2021, up less than 1 percent from the first quarter and up 11 percent year-over-year.