Residential Real Estate News
U.S. Property Foreclosures Rising Again During October
Starts Increase 5 Percent from Last Month, Completed Foreclosures Increase 13 Percent
According to ATTOM Data's newly released October 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, there were a total of 20,587 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions -- up 5 percent from last month and 76 percent from a year ago, the sixth consecutive annual increase.
"As expected, now that the moratorium has been over for three months, foreclosure activity continues to increase," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, 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."
Illinois, Florida and New Jersey had the highest foreclosure rates
Nationwide one in every 6,675 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October 2021. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 1,923 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Florida (one in every 3,180 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 3,438 housing units); Nevada (one in every 3,837 housing units); and Ohio (one in every 4,386 housing units).
Among the 220 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in October 2021 were St. Louis, MO (one in every 1,138 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Trenton, NJ (one in every 1,293 housing units); Miami, FL (one in every 2,233 housing units); Chicago, IL (one in every 2,284 housing units); and Cleveland, OH (one in every 2,285 housing units).
Foreclosure starts increase monthly in 28 states nationwide
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 10,759 U.S. properties in October 2021, up 5 percent from last month and up 115 percent from a year ago.
States that had at least 100 foreclosure starts in October 2021 and saw the greatest monthly increase in foreclosure starts 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," Sharga noted, "since virtually nothing entered the foreclosure process during the past year. The ratio of foreclosure starts to foreclosure completions will normalize over time as we get back to normal levels of activity."
Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than one million and that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in October 2021 included: New York, NY (667 foreclosure starts); Miami, FL (622 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles, CA (430 foreclosure starts); Houston, TX (349 foreclosure starts); and Atlanta, GA (345 foreclosure starts).
Foreclosure completion numbers increase 13 percent from last month
Lenders repossessed 3,027 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in October 2021, up 13 percent from last month and up 17 percent from last year.
States that saw the greatest number of REOs in October 2021, included: Illinois (1,075 REOs); California (178 REOs); Pennsylvania (175 REOs); Maryland (169 REOs); and Florida (148 REOs).
Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that saw the greatest number of REOs in October 2021 included: St. Louis, MO (906 REOs); Chicago, IL (128 REOs); Baltimore, MD (114 REOs); Philadelphia, PA (72 REOs); and New York, NY (71 REOs).
