ATTOM: Foreclosure Filings Down 18% in First Half of Year
ATTOM Data Solutions, Irvine, Calif., reported an 18% drop in U.S. foreclosure filings in the first six months of the year and an 82 percent decline from the peak of foreclosures.
The company’s Midyear U.S. Foreclosure Market Report showed 296,458 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions–in the first six months of 2019, down by 18 percent from the same period a year ago and down 82 percent from a peak of 1.655 million in the first six months of 2010.
Only 36 of the 220 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (16 percent) posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity in the first six months, including Buffalo, N.Y. (up 33 percent); Orlando, Fla. (up 32 percent); Jacksonville, Fla. (up 18 percent); Miami (up 7 percent); and Tampa-St. Petersburg, (up 5 percent).
“[There are ]still have pockets across the nation where foreclosure activity is seeing some flare-ups,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Foreclosure starts is a good indication of markets to watch.”
Key report findings:
–Nationwide 0.22 percent of all housing units (one in every 457) had a foreclosure filing in the first six months of 2019.
–States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2019 were New Jersey (0.54 percent); Delaware (0.46 percent); Maryland (0.43 percent); Florida (0.39 percent); and
Illinois (0.38 percent).
–Metros with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2019 were Atlantic City, N.J. (0.92 percent of all housing units with a foreclosure filing); Jacksonville, Fla. (0.54 percent); Trenton, N.J. (0.52 percent); Rockford, Ill. (0.51 percent); and Lakeland, Fla. (0.51 percent).
–177,015 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2019, down 8 percent from the first half of 2018 and down 84 percent from a peak of 1.074 million in the first half of 2009.
–152,760 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing in the second quarter, down 6 percent from the previous quarter and down 19 percent from a year ago, marking the 11th consecutive quarter in which U.S. foreclosure activity was below the pre-recession average of 278,912 properties with foreclosure filings per quarter in 2006 and 2007.
–Foreclosure activity in the second quarter was below pre-recession averages in 136 of 220 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report (62 percent), including Denver (92 percent); Detroit (89 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth (81 percent); Atlanta (80 percent); and Memphis (80 percent).
–Properties foreclosed in the second quarter took an average of 716 days from the first public foreclosure notice to complete the foreclosure process, down from 835 days in the previous quarter and down from 720 days a year ago.
–States with the longest average foreclosure timelines for foreclosures completed in the second quarter were Hawaii (1,611 days), Indiana (1,360), Florida (1,073), New York (1,057) and New Jersey (982 days). States with the shortest average foreclosure timelines were Mississippi (195 days), Minnesota (226), Virginia (228), Alaska (242) and Maine (277 days).
