Properties With Foreclosure Filings Show Big Jump Over One Year Ago

 CUToday

PLANO, Texas–Newly released data show there were a total of 92,634 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — during the third quarter of this year, a 3% increase over Q2 and a 104% jump from a year ago.

Brian Turner

The data was released as part of ATTOM’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for the third quarter.

The report further found there were a total of 31,836 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in September 2022, down 8Q% from the previous month but up 62% from September 2021.

In his analysis of the data, Brian Turner, president and chief economist with Meridian Economics, observed, “Lenders started the foreclosure process on 67,249 U.S. properties in Q3 2022, up 1% from the previous quarter and up 167% from a year ago — nearly reaching pre-pandemic levels. Foreclosure activity is reflecting other aspects of the economy, as unemployment rates continue to be historically low, and mortgage delinquency rates are lower than they were before the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Turner said the data show the states that posted the greatest number of foreclosure starts in Q3 2022 include California (7,368 foreclosure starts), Florida (6,671 foreclosure starts), Texas (6,217 foreclosure starts), Illinois (4,702 foreclosure starts), and New York (3,997 foreclosure starts).

Cities With Most Disclosures

The data further show that among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report, those that posted the greatest number of foreclosure starts in Q3 2022, include New York City (4,621 foreclosure starts), Chicago (3,950 foreclosure starts), Los Angeles (2,275 foreclosure starts), Philadelphia (1,991 foreclosure starts), and Miami (1,990 foreclosure starts).

Turner said the ATTOM analysis also reveal bank repossessions increased nationwide, with lenders repossessing 10,515 U.S. properties through foreclosure (REO) in Q3 2022, up 18% from the previous quarter and up 39% from a year ago.

“But very few of the properties entering the foreclosure process have reverted to the lender at the end of the foreclosure,” Turner wrote. “In fact, nearly three times more homes were repossessed by lenders in the second quarter of 2019 than in the second quarter of 2022. We believe that this may be an indication that borrowers are leveraging their equity and selling their homes rather than risking the loss of their equity in a foreclosure auction.”

Additional Data Points

Other data points in the ATTOM report:

• Properties foreclosed in Q3 2022 had been in the foreclosure process an average of 885 days, down from 948 days in the previous quarter and down 4% from 924 days in Q3 2021.
• States with the longest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q3 2022 were Hawaii (2,121 days), New Jersey (2,002 days), Louisiana (1,963 days), Kansas (1,848 days,  and New York (1,808 days).
• States with the shortest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q3 2022 were Minnesota (113 days), Mississippi (167 days), Texas (168 days), Nebraska (168 days), and Missouri (172 days).