Foreclosure activity in October increased significantly from one year earlier, according to data from ATTOM’s October 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
The data showed there was a total of 32,376 properties with foreclosure filings in October, up 57 percent from one year ago, but only up 2 percent from the previous month. Nationwide, one in every 4,339 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October.
“Even though foreclosure activity continues its slow, steady increase since the end of the government’s moratorium, we’re still far below normal levels,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “October foreclosure activity was about 59 percent of pre-pandemic numbers, and at its current pace foreclosures probably won’t be back to historically normal levels until sometime around mid-2023.”
Among the 223 metro areas with a population of at least 200,000 that ATTOM analyzed, those with the highest foreclosure rates in October were Fayetteville, N.C. (one in every 1,135 housing units with a foreclosure filing); St. Louis (one in every 1,177 housing units); Jacksonville, N.C. (one in every 1,203 housing units); Cleveland (one in every 1,624 housing units); and Spartanburg, S.C. (one in every 1,729 housing units).
Lenders repossessed 4,156 properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in October, up 18 percent from last month and up 37 percent from last year.
“Repossessions in October were just under 31 percent of where they were in October of 2019,” Sharga said. “This suggests that borrowers in foreclosure have been able to sell their homes prior to the foreclosure auction, and that a higher percentage of properties at the auctions are being sold to third-party buyers. A new flood of REO homes seems increasingly unlikely to happen anytime soon.”