ATTOM: Foreclosure Activity At 12-Year Low

ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., said foreclosure filings in April fell to their lowest level since November 2005.

The company’s April U.S. Foreclosure Market report said foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions–totaled 77,049 U.S. properties, down 7 percent from the previous month and down 23 percent from a year ago.

“Foreclosure activity continued to search for a new post-recession floor in April thanks in large part to the above-par performance of mortgages originated in the past seven years,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM. “Meanwhile we are seeing an elevated share of repeat foreclosures on homeowners who often fell into default several years ago but have not been able to avoid foreclosure despite the housing recovery.”

The report said nationwide, one in every 1,723 housing units had a foreclosure filing in April. States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey (one in every 562 housing units); Delaware (one in every 706); Maryland (one in every 776); Connecticut (one in every 956); and Illinois (one in every 1,083).

Among 217 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in April were Atlantic City, N.J. (one in every 237 housing units); Fayetteville, N.C. (one in every 615); Trenton, N.J. (one in every 620 h); Rockford, Ill. (one in every 668); and Philadelphia (one in every 733).

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and seven states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, including New Jersey (up 1 percent); Connecticut (up 29 percent); and Massachusetts (up 3 percent). Three of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity: St. Louis (up 12 percent); Houston (up 7 percent); and Boston (up 3 percent).

ATTOM reported 34,085 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in April, down 6 percent from the previous month and down 22 percent from a year ago and continuing well below the pre-recession average of more than 77,000 foreclosure starts per month between April 2005 and November 2007.

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and seven states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts, including Connecticut (up 40 percent); Massachusetts (up 34 percent); Alabama (up 10 percent); Missouri (up 10 percent); Oregon (up 7 percent); and Illinois (up 6 percent).

The report said lenders completed foreclosure on 25,990 U.S. properties in April, down 9 percent from the previous month and down 22 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since February 2015, running just above the pre-recession average of 25,796 per month between April 2005 and November 2007.

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and 15 states posted year-over-year increases in REOs in April, including New Jersey (up 45 percent); Arizona (up 25 percent); Louisiana (up 2 percent); Connecticut (up 4 percent); and Oklahoma (up 7 percent).

ATTOM also released a new analysis of “repeat foreclosure starts” in five markets: the five boroughs of New York City; Essex County, N.J.; Miami-Dade County; Los Angeles County; and Maricopa County (Phoenix), Ariz. Of these markets, the highest share of repeat foreclosures in 2016 was in the five boroughs of New York City (54 percent), followed by Los Angeles (39 percent); Miami-Dade County (32 percent); Maricopa County (26 percent); and Essex County (20 percent).

Among the five boroughs of New York City, Kings County (Brooklyn) had the highest share of repeat foreclosure starts in 2016 (62 percent), followed by Staten Island (55 percent); Bronx (53 percent); Manhattan (48 percent); and Queens (45 percent).

The Mortgage Bankers Association will release its first quarter National Delinquency Survey the week of May 15.