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Lenders repossessed 13,484 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures in October 2019, up 14% month-over-month and the highest point in total number of completed foreclosures in 2019, according to the ATTOM Data Solutions October 2019 U.S. Foreclosure Activity Report.
“While foreclosure activity across the United States rose in October, in looking at historical trends, October numbers tend to increase as lenders may be pushing filings through the pipeline before the holiday season,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “The latest number is still below where it was a year ago and less than 15% of what it was during the depths of the Great Recession.”
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 28,667 U.S. properties in October 2019, up 17% from last month but down 1% from a year ago. ATTOM notes that this is the first double-digit month-over-month increase since February 2018.
Counter to the national trend, 13 states including Washington, DC posted month-over-month decreases in foreclosure starts in October 2019, including Maryland (down 42%); Idaho (down 36%); Delaware (down 32%); Nebraska (down 26%); and Utah (down 25%).
Nationwide one in every 2,453 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October 2019. States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey (one in every 1,316 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Illinois (one in every 1,336 housing units); Maryland (one in every 1,484 housing units); South Carolina (one in every 1,534 housing units); and Florida (one in every 1,571 housing units).
Among the 220 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in October were Peoria, IL (one in every 832 housing units); Rockford, IL (one in every 889 housing units); Atlantic City, NJ (one in every 933 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Fayetteville, NC (one in every 962 housing units); and Columbia, SC (one in every 1,028 housing units).
