There were a total of 32,376 U.S. properties either with foreclosure filings, default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions in October. That’s up 57% from a year ago, according to ATTOM’s October 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released Wednesday.
Nationwide, one in every 4,339 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October. Illinois posted the highest foreclosure rates with one in every 1,779 housing units with a filing. Delaware followed in second place with one in every 2,178 housing units.
“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 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, Fayetteville, N.C. posted the highest foreclosure rates in October, with one in every 1,135 housing units with a foreclosure filing.
Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the worst foreclosure rates in October 2022 were Las Vegas, Nev. with one in every 2,062 housing units and Riverside, Calif. with one in every 2,127 housing units.
Lenders repossessed 4,156 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures in October, up 18% from last month and up 37% year-over-year.
“Repossessions in October were just under 31 percent 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.”
Illinois and New York had the top two spots for states that had the highest completed foreclosures in October, reporting 1,100 and 273, respectively.
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 21,829 U.S. properties in October, down less than 1% from last month but up 103% from a year ago.
The top three states that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in October included California with 2,594, Texas with 1,901 and Florida with 1,528.
