There were 20,587 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in October, up 5 percent from September and 76 percent from a year ago, according to ATTOM’s October 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
“As expected, now that the moratorium has been over for three months, foreclosure activity continues to increase,” RealtyTrac Executive Vice President Rick Sharga said in a release. RealtyTrac is an ATTOM company. “But it’s increasing at a slower rate, and it appears that most of the activity is primarily on vacant and abandoned properties, or loans that were in foreclosure prior to the pandemic.”
States with the highest foreclosure rates in October were Illinois (one in every 1,923 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Florida (one in every 3,180); New Jersey (one in every 3,438); Nevada (one in every 3,837); and Ohio (one in every 4,386).
Among metro areas analyzed with a population of at least 200,000, the highest foreclosure rates were St. Louis (one in every 1,138); Trenton, N.J. (one in every 1,293); Miami (one in every 2,233); Chicago (one in every 2,284); and Cleveland (one in every 2,285).
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 10,759 properties in October, up 5 percent from September and up 115 percent from a year ago. States with at least 100 foreclosure starts in October that saw the greatest monthly increase included Pennsylvania (up 107 percent); North Carolina (up 104 percent); New Jersey (up 61 percent); Connecticut (up 56 percent); and Massachusetts (up 39 percent).
“Most foreclosure activity for the next few months is likely to be foreclosure starts, since virtually nothing entered the foreclosure process during the past year,” Sharga said. “The ratio of foreclosure starts to foreclosure completions will normalize over time as we get back to normal levels of activity.”
Major metros that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in October included New York (667 foreclosure starts); Miami (622 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles (430 foreclosure starts); Houston (349 foreclosure starts); and Atlanta (345 foreclosure starts).