In February, there were 25,833 properties with foreclosure filings, according to RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company. That’s up 11 percent from January and 129 percent year-over-year.
“February foreclosure activity looks a lot like what we can expect to see for at least the next six months – double-digit month-over-month growth, and triple-digit year-over-year increases,” RealtyTrac Executive Vice President Rick Sharga said in a release. “This isn’t an indication of economic turmoil, or of weakness in the housing market; it’s simply the gradual return to normal levels of foreclosure activity after two years of artificially low numbers due to government and industry efforts to protect financially-impacted homeowners from defaulting.”
Lenders repossessed 2,634 properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in February, down 45 percent from January but up 70 percent year-over-year. States that had at least 100 REOs and saw the greatest monthly decreases in completed foreclosures in February included Michigan (down 81 percent), Texas (down 58 percent), California (down 52 percent), Florida (down 43 percent), and New Jersey (down 27 percent).
Major metro areas with a population greater than 200,000 that had 25 or more REOs in February and saw the greatest monthly decreases in completed foreclosures included Detroit (down 87 percent), Los Angeles (down 63 percent), St. Louis (down 50 percent), Riverside, Calif. (down 46 percent), and New York (down 40 percent).
“The reduced number of foreclosure completions suggests that much of the activity we saw in January was a result of mortgage servicers catching up on processing loans that had been in foreclosure or very seriously delinquent prior to the pandemic and the moratorium,” Sharga said. “We can expect more month-to-month volatility as servicers and the court systems work through some of these backlogs.”
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 16,545 properties in February, up 40 percent from January and 176 percent from a year ago. States with the greatest numbers of foreclosures starts in February included California (1,868 foreclosure starts), Florida (1,527), Texas (1,488), Illinois (1,168), and Ohio (1,144).
Major metro areas with the greatest numbers of foreclosure starts in February were Chicago (1,075), New York (793), Los Angeles (530), Houston (471), and Atlanta (415 foreclosure starts).
States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey (one in every 2,510 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Illinois (one in every 2,521), Ohio (one in every 2,801), South Carolina (one in every 3,001), and Nevada (one in every 3,112).
The major metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates in February were Cleveland (one in every 1,483 housing units with a foreclosure filing), Atlantic City, N.J. (one in every 1,832), Columbia, S.C. (one in every 1,890), Lakeland, Fla. (one in every 1,983), and Chicago (one in every 2,058).