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Foreclosures Tick Up In October

ATTOM, along with its subsidiary RealtyTrac, has released its latest Foreclosure Market Report for October which has found that there was a total of 20,587 properties with foreclosure filings against them, up 5% from September and 76% from a year ago. This increase marks the sixth consecutive increase year-over-year. 

The news was not completely unexpected as the federal foreclosure moratorium has now been over for three months and forbearance plans are beginning to come to and end. 

"As expected, now that the moratorium has been over for three months, foreclosure activity continues to increase," said Rick Sharga, Executive Vice President at RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company. "But it's increasing at a slower rate, and it appears that most of the activity is primarily on vacant and abandoned properties, or loans that were in foreclosure prior to the pandemic." 

According to the report, houses with foreclosure filings against them account for one in every 6,675 units. The highest foreclosure rates were seen in Illinois (one in 1,923 units had filings against them); Florida (one in 3,180 units); New Jersey (one in 3,438 units); Nevada (one in 2,837 units); and Ohio (one in 4,386). 

In terms of metropolitan areas, St. Louis had the highest foreclosure rates with one in 1,138 homes having filings against them. This is followed by Trenton, NJ (one in 1,293 housing units); Miami, FL (one in 2,233 units); Chicago, IL (one in 2,284 units); and Cleveland, OH (one in 2,285 units). 

Foreclosure starts also increased over the last month as lenders started the foreclosure process on 10,759 properties, up 5% from September and 115% since last year. 

"Most foreclosure activity for the next few months is likely to be foreclosure starts," Sharga noted, "Since virtually nothing entered the foreclosure process during the past year. The ratio of foreclosure starts to foreclosure completions will normalize over time as we get back to normal levels of activity." 

Foreclosure completion numbers also increased as lenders repossessed 3,027 properties, up 13% since September and 17% from last year. States that saw the greatest number of REOs in October, included: Illinois (1,075 REOs); California (178 REOs); Pennsylvania (175 REOs); Maryland (169 REOs); and Florida (148 REOs). 

Data for the report was gleaned from data entered into the ATTOM Data Warehouse over the course of the month which covers more than 3,000 counties nationwide or about 99% of the total papulation. 

About Author: Kyle G. Horst

Kyle G. Horst is a reporter for DS News and MReport. A graduate of the University of Texas at Tyler, he has worked for a number of daily, weekly, and monthly publications in South Dakota and Texas. With more than 10 years of experience in community journalism, he has won a number of state, national, and international awards for his writing and photography including best newspaper design by the Associated Press Managing Editors Group and the international iPhone photographer of the year by the iPhone Photography Awards. He most recently worked as editor of Community Impact Newspaper covering a number of Dallas-Ft. Worth communities on a hyperlocal level. Contact Kyle G. at [email protected].
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