More foreclosures sprang up this summer across the country. Forty-four percent—or 96 of 219—metro areas saw foreclosures tick up in July compared to a year ago, according to a newly released report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. This marks the first annual increase in foreclosure starts nationwide after three years of year-over-year declines each month.
The report showed that 30,187 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process for the first time in July.
The increase in foreclosure starts is “not just a one-month anomaly,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. He says the trend has already been popping up in recent months. In many local markets, July represented the third consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in 33 metro areas, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Detroit, San Diego, and Austin.
“Gradually loosening lending standards over the past few years have introduced a modicum of risk back into the housing market, and that additional risk is resulting in rising foreclosure starts in a diverse set of markets across the country,” Blomquist says. “Most susceptible to rising foreclosure starts are affordability-challenged markets where home buyers are more financially stretched and markets with some type of trigger event, such as a natural disaster or large-scale layoffs.”
The metro areas with a population of at least 200,000 that had the highest foreclosure rates in July were:
- Atlantic City, N.J. (one in every 448 housing units with a foreclosure filing)
- Peoria, Ill. (1 in every 622)
- Fayetteville, N.C. (1 in every 683)
- Trenton, N.J. (1 in every 703)
- Philadelphia (1 in every 851)
Source:
“Foreclosure Starts Increase in 44 Percent of U.S. Markets in July 2018,” ATTOM Data Solutions (Aug. 17, 2018)
