ATTOM: California Has Most Markets at Highest Risk of Declines

(Curtis Adams/pexels.com)

ATTOM, Irvine, Calif., released its latest Housing Risk Report, highlighting which markets are more or less vulnerable to declines, based on home affordability, equity, foreclosures and other metrics.

Of the 50 highest risk markets, 16 were in California. Nine were in New Jersey, four were in Florida and three each were in Arizona and Texas.

“A lot of attention has, deservedly, gone to affordability concerns stemming from the rising price of homes,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “But what really separated the riskiest markets in our third-quarter assessment were their high rates of foreclosures and unemployment.”

“If a community is losing jobs, those homeowners will find it harder to pay their monthly mortgage bills,” he continued. “That means more foreclosures, which can hurt the broader local housing market.”

The five counties with the highest risk housing markets in ATTOM’s analysis were Butte County, Calif., Humboldt County, Calif., Charlotte County, Fla., Shasta County, Calif., and El Dorado County, Calif.

All five counties had unemployment rates at or above 5.1% and at least one foreclosure in every 806 homes.

In terms of least at-risk counties, the most–seven–were in Wisconsin, five were in Tennessee, and four each were in Montana, New Hampshire and Virginia.

The least risky counties were Berkeley County, W.Va., Chittenden County, Vt., Erie County, N.Y., Olmstead County, Minn., and Albany County, N.Y. All five of those counties had unemployment rates at or below 4% and a foreclosure rate of no more than one in every 2,624 properties.