In August, there were 34,501 properties with foreclosure filings, up 14 percent from July and up 118 percent year-over-year, according to ATTOM’s latest foreclosure market report. Lenders started the foreclosure process on 23,952 properties, up 12 percent from July and up 187 percent from a year ago.
“Two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and after massive government intervention and mortgage industry efforts to prevent defaults, foreclosure starts have almost returned to 2019 levels,” ATTOM Executive Vice President of Market Intelligence Rick Sharga said in a release. “August foreclosure starts were at 86 percent of the number of foreclosure starts in August 2019, but it’s important to remember that even then, foreclosure activity was relatively low compared to historical averages.”
States that had at least 100 foreclosure starts in August 2022 and saw the greatest monthly increases in starts included Oklahoma (up 80 percent), Tennessee (up 74 percent), Virginia (up 64 percent), Arkansas (up 53 percent) and Washington (up 50 percent).
States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 1,926 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Delaware (one in every 2,387), South Carolina (one in every 2,417), New Jersey (one in every 2,441) and Florida (one in every 2,950).
Among the 223 metro areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in August were Peoria, Ill. (one in every 869 housing units), Jacksonville, N.C. (one in every 968), Bakersfield, Calif. (one in every 1,454), South Bend, Ind. (one in every 1,478), and Rockford, Ill. (one in every 1,496).
Among metro areas with population greater than 1 million, the worst foreclosure rates in August were in Cleveland (one in every 1,820 housing units), Chicago (one in every 1,877, Jacksonville, Fla. (one in every 2,074), Riverside, Calif. (one in every 2,091) and Orlando, Fla. (one in every 2,445).
Lenders repossessed 3,938 properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in August, up 28 percent from July and up 59 percent year-over-year.
“Repossessions are likely to continue running below pre-pandemic levels for several reasons, most importantly that over 90 percent of borrowers in foreclosure have positive equity in their homes and would benefit from selling these properties at a profit rather than risk losing everything to a foreclosure auction or lender repossession,” Sharga said.
The states with the greatest number of REOs included Illinois (493 REOs), New York (337), Michigan (326), Pennsylvania (260) and California (189).
The major metro statistical areas with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest monthly increase in REOs in August were in Kansas City, Mo. (up 967 percent), New York (up 90 percent), Philadelphia (up 28 percent) and Detroit (up 23 percent).