Foreclosure Activity Up Nearly 60% Year-Over-Year

Foreclosure activity was up 56% in October 2022 according to ATTOM Data’s Foreclosure Market Report, which found that there were a total of 32,376 flings during the month, up 57% year-over-year or 2% month-over-month.

On a national basis, one in every 4,339 dwellings had a foreclosure filing against it in October. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 1,779 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Delaware (one in 2,178); New Jersey (one in 2,305); South Carolina (one in 2,711); and Nevada (one in 2,755).

“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, EVP of Market Intelligence at ATTOM. “October foreclosure activity was about 59% 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 top 223 metropolitan areas tracked by ATTOM, the highest foreclosure rates in October 2022 were Fayetteville, North Carolina (one in every 1,135 housing units with a foreclosure filing); St. Louis, Missouri (one in 1,177); Jacksonville, North Carolina (one in 1,203); Cleveland, Ohio (one in 1,624); and Spartanburg, South Carolina (one in 1,729).

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 21,829 properties in October, down less than 1% from last month but up 103% from the same period last year.

Looking specifically at foreclosure completion numbers, lenders repossessed 4,156 homes in October, a number that is now up 18% over last month and 37% from last year.

“Repossessions in October were just under 31% of where they were in October of 2019,” Sharga added. “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.”