California, New Jersey and Illinois were the states most vulnerable to declines in the housing market in the third quarter, according to ATTOM’s Special Housing Risk Report.
That’s based on the number of “at-risk” markets within each of those states. ATTOM notes that, overall, the housing market is strong and that risk is low in a majority of markets.
The report spotlights county-level housing markets around the U.S. that are more or less vulnerable to declines, based on affordability, foreclosures, underwater mortgages, employment and other measures.
New York City and Chicago were the top cities with vulnerable markets, according to the report.
Less-vulnerable markets were spread mainly throughout the South, Midwest and Northeast.
The 50 counties on the most-exposed list included nine in and around New York City, seven in the Chicago metropolitan area and five in central California. The rest were scattered around northern and southern California and widely across other parts of the country.
At the other end of the risk spectrum, the South had the most markets considered least likely to decline, followed closely by the Midwest and a group of states in New England.
“Some parts of the country continue to pop up on the radar as places to watch for signs of housing-market drop-offs, based on key quarterly measures,” says Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, in the report. “Once again, it is important to stress that getting onto the most-vulnerable list doesn’t signal an imminent crash for any local market. It just means that they have greater potential tripwires that could lead to a decline. Those remain areas to watch, especially given the overall varied trends in the market.”
Photo: Luis Georg Müller