According to the U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released by ATTOM, foreclosures reached pre-pandemic levels in August.
August had a total of 34,501 foreclosure filings for U.S. properties, an increase of 14 percent from July and 118 percent from August 2021.
“Two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and after massive government intervention and mortgage-industry efforts to prevent defaults, foreclosure starts have almost returned to 2019 levels,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “August foreclosure starts were at 86 percent of the number of foreclosure starts in August 2019, but it’s important to remember that even then, foreclosure activity was relatively low compared to historical averages.”
States that had at least 100 foreclosure starts in August 2022 and saw the greatest monthly increases in foreclosure starts included Oklahoma (up 80 percent), Tennessee (up 74 percent), Virginia (up 64 percent), Arkansas (up 53 percent) and Washington (up 50 percent).
Counties that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in August 2022 included Cook County, Ill. (798 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles County, Calif. (740 foreclosure starts); Harris County, Texas (465 foreclosure starts); Suffolk County, N.Y. (297 foreclosure starts); and Riverside County, Calif. (280 foreclosure starts).
Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the worst foreclosure rates in August 2022 were Cleveland, (one in every 1,820 housing units); Chicago (one in every 1,877 housing units); Jacksonville, Fla. (one in every 2,074 housing units); Riverside, Calif. (one in every 2,091 housing units); and Orlando, Fla. (one in every 2,445 housing units).
Lenders repossessed 3,938 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in August 2022, up 28 percent from last month and up 59 percent from last year.
“Repossessions are likely to continue running below pre-pandemic levels for several reasons, most importantly that over 90 percent of borrowers in foreclosure have positive equity in their homes and would benefit from selling these properties at a profit rather than risk losing everything to a foreclosure auction or lender repossession,” Sharga noted.
States that had the greatest number of REOs in August 2022 were Illinois (493 REOs), New York (337 REOs), Michigan (326 REOs), Pennsylvania (260 REOs) and California (189 REOs).