ATTOM today released its Midyear 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows a total of 164,581 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — including default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2022.
That figure is up 153% from the same time period a year ago, but down just 1% from the same period two years ago amid peak pandemic conditions.
A total of 117,383 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2022, up 219% from the first half of last year and up 19% from the first half of 2020.
“Foreclosure activity across the United States continued its slow, steady climb back to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2022,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. “While overall foreclosure activity is still running significantly below historic averages, the dramatic increase in foreclosure starts suggests that we may be back to normal levels by sometime in early 2023.”
Nationwide, 0.12% of all housing units — one in every 854 — had a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2022. Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio posted the highest state foreclosure rates.
“It’s important to note that many of the foreclosure starts we’re seeing today — in fact, much of the overall foreclosure activity we’re seeing right now — is on loans that were either already in foreclosure or were more than 120 days delinquent prior to the pandemic,” Sharga added. “Many of these loans were protected by the government’s foreclosure moratorium, or they would have already been foreclosed on two years ago. There’s very little delinquency or default activity that’s truly new in the numbers we’re tracking.”
There were a total of 90,139 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in quarter two of 2022, up 15% from the previous quarter and up 165% from a year ago.
In June 2022, 22,239 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process, which is up 1% from the previous month and up 226% from a year ago.
