Foreclosure Filings Plummet During First Half of 2018

A total of 362,275 properties carried foreclosure filings in the first half of this year, down 15 percent from the same period one year ago, according to new statistics from ATTOM Data Solutions.

 

A total of 191,914 properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2018, down eight percent from the first half of 2017. Nationally, only 0.27 percent of all housing units—one in every 370—had a foreclosure filing in the first six months of 2018. And despite the national trend, 22 states posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in the first half of 2018, most notably Indiana with a 51 percent increase. And 88 of the 219 metro areas analyzed in the report, or 40 percent, posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts in the first half of 2018, most notably Minneapolis-St. Paul with a 50 percent annualized spike.

 

“Localized foreclosure flare-ups in the first half of 2018 can no longer be blamed on legacy distress left over from the last housing bubble given that nearly half of all active foreclosures are now tied to loans originated in 2009 or later and given that the average time to foreclose plummeted in the first two quarters of the year,” said Daren Blomquist, Senior Vice President with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Instead these local foreclosure increases are typically the result of more recent distress triggers in those markets. We’re also seeing early evidence of gradually loosening lending standards starting in 2014, specifically for FHA-backed loans. The foreclosure rate on FHA loans originated in 2014 and 2015 has now jumped above the average FHA foreclosure rate for all loan vintages—the only two post-recession vintages with foreclosure rates above that overall average.”

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