The number of default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions during May increased slightly month-over-month, but dropped 22 percent from a year ago for the 11th consecutive month with an annual decline, according to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions.
ATTOM reported 56,152 foreclosure filings in May, up 1 percent from April.
“We are continuing to see a downward trend with overall foreclosure activity, especially in completed foreclosures declining year after year,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a press release. “However, in May 2019 we did see an uptick in the number of states increasing in foreclosure starts going from 17 to 23 states rising annually, and again Florida is bucking the national trend with a continuous annual increase.”
According to the report, foreclosure completions in May declined in every state except Vermont. States that had an annual decline of more than 50 percent in May included Michigan (down 84 percent); Massachusetts (down 74 percent); Indiana (down 67 percent); Kentucky (down 66 percent); and New Jersey (down 64 percent).
Metropolitan areas with double-digit decreases in foreclosures during May included Birmingham, Ala. (down 67 percent); New York (down 59 percent); Washington, D.C. (down 58 percent); Philadelphia (down 57 percent); and Detroit (down 54 percent).
During May, foreclosure starts increased in Wisconsin (up 99 percent); Kentucky (up 64 percent); Louisiana (up 53 percent); Missouri (up 34 percent); and Florida (up 23 percent), which has had double-digit annual increases for 12 consecutive months, ATTOM found.
The report identified the metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in May 2019 as Atlantic City (one in every 680 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Jacksonville, Fla. (one in every 764 housing units); Fayetteville, N.C. (one in every 777 housing units); Columbia, S.C. (one in every 936 housing units); and Rockford, Ill. (one in every 941 housing units).