There were a total of 177,146 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — during the third quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q3 2018 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
The third-quarter foreclosure filings were down 6 percent from the previous quarter and down 8 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2005, the report found.
“A decade after poorly underwritten mortgages triggered a housing market crash, it’s clear that the foreclosure risk associated with those problem mortgages has faded — average foreclosure timelines have dropped to a two-year low, and the share of foreclosures tied to 2004-to-2008 loans has dropped well below 50 percent,” ATTOM Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release.
“The biggest foreclosure risk in today’s housing market comes from natural disaster events such as the twin hurricanes of a year ago. Foreclosure starts spiked in the third quarter in many local markets impacted by those hurricanes,” Blomquist added. “Secondarily, we are seeing relatively modest — but more widespread — foreclosure risk associated with FHA loans originated in 2014 and 2015.”
Properties foreclosed during the third quarter had been in the foreclosure process an average of 713 days, down from 720 days in the previous quarter and down from 899 days during the third quarter of 2017.
ATTOM said the third-quarter foreclosure filings were 36 percent below the pre-recession average of 278,912 properties per quarter between Q1 2006 and Q3 2007.
Despite the national decrease in foreclosure filings during the third quarter, 15 states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure filings during the quarter. Those states included Florida (up 25 percent); Texas (up 3 percent); Maryland (up 13 percent); Michigan (up 32 percent); and Missouri (up 10 percent).
ATTOM said metropolitan statistical areas that posted a year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts during the third quarter included Los Angeles (up 2 percent); Houston (up 51 percent); Washington, D.C. (up 2 percent); Miami (up 29 percent); and Detroit (up 65 percent).
ATTOM said the states with the longest average foreclosure times during the third quarter were Hawaii (1,491 days); Indiana (1,295 days); Florida (1,177 days); Utah (1,170 days); New Jersey (1,137 days); and New York (1,092 days).
States with the shortest average foreclosure times during the third quarter were Virginia (179 days); Mississippi (209 days); New Hampshire (216 days); Alaska (237 days); and Nebraska (240 days).