ATTOM’s latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows there were a total of 30,528 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in February, down 3 percent from a month ago and up 18 percent from a year ago.
Lenders also repossessed 3,831 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in February, dipping 2 percent from last month but increasing 45 percent from last year.
“Foreclosure activity finally started to stabilize in February after 21 straight months of increases,” says Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “The numbers don’t yet show a clear trend toward fewer foreclosures, partly because February is a short month. But with historically high levels of home equity flowing from a decade of rising values, we may be seeing a growing number of delinquent mortgage payers with at least the option to sell before facing foreclosure.”
States that had at least 100 or more REOs and saw the greatest annual increase in completed foreclosures in February included New York (up 268 percent); Georgia (up 237 percent); California (up 132 percent); Texas (up 87 percent); and Virginia (up 73 percent).
Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 200,000 that saw the greatest number of completed foreclosures (REOs) in February included Chicago (193 REOs); New York (170 REOs); Detroit (112 REOs); Philadelphia (104 REOs); and St. Louis (97 REOs).
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 20,360 U.S. properties in February, down 2 percent from last month but up 23 percent from a year ago.
Those states that saw the greatest numbers of foreclosures starts in February included Texas (2,187 foreclosure starts); California (2,133 foreclosure starts); Florida (1,831 foreclosure starts); New York (1,318 foreclosure starts); and Illinois (1,170 foreclosure starts).
Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those that had the greatest numbers of foreclosure starts in February included New York (1,554 foreclosure starts); Chicago (1,034 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles (710 foreclosure starts); Houston (699 foreclosure starts); and Philadelphia (565 foreclosure starts).
Nationwide, one in every 4,574 housing units had a foreclosure filing in February. States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey (one in every 2,271 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Maryland (one in every 2,390 housing units); Illinois (one in every 2,443 housing units); Nevada (one in every 2,854 housing units); and Indiana (one in every 2,956 housing units).
Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in February were Fayetteville, N.C. (one in every 1,627 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Atlantic City, N.J. (one in every 1,708 housing units); Florence, S.C. (one in every 1,833 housing units); Jacksonville, N.C. (one in every 1,934 housing units); and Cleveland (one in every 2,049 housing units).
Other than Cleveland, among the metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million, those with the worst foreclosure rates in February Chicago (one in every 2,300 housing units); Las Vegas (one in every 2,305 housing units); Riverside, Calif. (one in every 2,450 housing); and Baltimore (one in every 2,510 housing units).
Photo by Matthew Moloney on Unsplash
