Foreclosures in the Big Apple

First-time foreclosure cases decreased quarter-over-quarter across New York in 2018, according to Property Shark's Q42018 report on foreclosures in the Big Apple. The report indicated that across all New York boroughs 720 homes "hit the auction block for the first time." This is a 14 percent year-over-year decrease, with lis pendens cases also declining by 16 percent during this period.

The only exception was Queens, which saw an 8 percent year-over-year increase in foreclosures during the quarter. The borough saw 252 first-time foreclosure cases during the quarter. However, on a quarter-over-quarter basis, Queens saw a 17 percent drop compared to Q32018.

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, first-time cases in Staten Island increased by 269 percent, the report said, "due to the very limited number of foreclosures that occurred in Q32018."

"In Q3, there were only 48 cases registered, while in Q4 177 residential properties were auctioned off" in Staten Island, the report indicated. Year-over-year, the borough saw a decrease of 4 percent in foreclosures.

Lis pendens or pre-foreclosure cases are also declining across the city. The report found that such cases had contracted 16 percent year-over-year with 2,113 lis pendens notices registered in the last quarter of 2018. Each borough saw decreases between 7 percent and 29 percent. The only exception, in this case, was Manhattan where pre-foreclosures saw an uptick of 2 percent during the quarter. The largest drop in these cases occurred in the Bronx, declining 29 percent, while most cases were registered in Queens.

Despite an uptick in pre-foreclosures, Manhattan saw only 23 homes heading for the auction block in Q42018, compared with the same period last year, when 28 homes were in foreclosure in this area. The borough, according to the report, continues to remain stable in terms of foreclosures with "first-time cases constantly hovering around 20 and 30 over the last couple of quarters."

The Bronx saw the steepest drop in residential foreclosures with the number of cases dropping to more than half in Q42018, compared with the same period last year. The borough also registered the steepest quarter-over-quarter decrease in foreclosures among all five areas with the decline pegged at 36 percent by Property Shark.

Click here to read the full report.