August 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Activity Rises Following The End Of The Foreclosure Moratorium

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, licensor of the nation's most comprehensive foreclosure data and parent company to RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), the largest online marketplace for foreclosure and distressed properties, released its August 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 15,838 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 27 percent from a month ago and up 60 percent from a year ago. Numbers reflect the first month since the government moratorium has lifted.

"As expected, foreclosure activity increased as the government's foreclosure moratorium expired, but this doesn't mean we should expect to see a flood of distressed properties coming to market," said Rick Sharga, Executive Vice President at RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company. "We'll continue to see foreclosure activity increase over the next three months as loans that were in default prior to the moratorium re-enter the foreclosure pipeline, and states begin to catch up on months of foreclosure filings that simply haven't been processed during the pandemic. But it's likely that foreclosures will remain below normal levels at least through the end of the year."

Illinois, Nevada, and New Jersey had the highest foreclosure rates
Nationwide one in every 8,677 housing units had a foreclosure filing in August 2021. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 3,848 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Nevada (one in every 4,738 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 4,868 housing units); Delaware (one in every 5,348 housing units); and Ohio (one in every 5,517 housing units).

Among the 220 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in August 2021 were Bakersfield, CA (one in every 1,796 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Atlantic City, NJ (one in every 1,886 housing units); Cleveland, OH (one in every 2,259 housing units); Rockford, IL (one in every 3,037 housing units); and Las Vegas, NV (one in every 3,718 housing units).

Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the worst foreclosure rates in August 2021 included Cleveland, OH and Las Vegas, NV were: Chicago, IL (one in every 3,754 housing units); Riverside, CA (one in every 4,098 housing units); and Birmingham, AL (one in every 4,649 housing units).

Foreclosure starts increase 27 percent from last month
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 8,348 U.S. properties in August 2021, up 27 percent from last month and up 49 percent from a year ago.

"While foreclosure starts increased significantly compared to last month and last year, it's very important to keep these numbers in context," Sharga noted. "Both last year's and last month's foreclosure starts were artificially low due to the government's moratorium. But in August of 2019, the last year we had 'normal' foreclosure activity, there were almost 28,000 foreclosure starts – over three times more than this year."

States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in August 2021 were California (1,240 foreclosure starts); Texas (1,060 foreclosure starts); Florida (643 foreclosure starts); Illinois (506 foreclosure starts); and New York (479 foreclosure starts).

Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the greatest number of foreclosure starts in August 2021 included New York, NY (486 foreclosure starts); Chicago, IL (439 foreclosure starts); Los Angeles, CA (401 foreclosure starts); Houston, TX (322 foreclosure starts); and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (248 foreclosure starts).

Foreclosure completion numbers increase across the board
Lenders repossessed 2,474 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in August 2021, up 2 percent from last month and up 22 percent from last year.

States that had at least 100 REOs in August 2021 and saw the greatest monthly increase included: New York (up 136 percent); Michigan (up 62 percent); Illinois (up 24 percent); Florida (up 19 percent); and Texas (up 13 percent).

Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs in August 2021 included Chicago, IL (177 REOs); New York, NY (84 REOs); Detroit, MI (78 REOs); Baltimore, MD (58 REOs); and Tampa, FL (43 REOs).

Report Methodology
The ATTOM U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the ATTOM Data Warehouse during the month and quarter. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the quarter may have been recorded in the previous quarter. Data is collected from more than 3,000 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 99 percent of the U.S. population. ATTOM's report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). For the annual, midyear and quarterly reports, if more than one type of foreclosure document is received for a property during the timeframe, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The annual, midyear, quarterly and monthly reports all check if the same type of document was filed against a property previously. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state where the property is located, the report does not count the property in the current year, quarter or month.

Interested in finding out more about our pre-foreclosure and foreclosure data?

Contact ATTOM for Foreclosure Data Licensing Details.
Visit RealtyTrac.com for Foreclosure Search and Listings.

About ATTOM
ATTOM provides foreclosure data licenses that can power various enterprise industries including real estate, insurance, marketing, government, mortgage and more. ATTOM multi-sources from 3,000 counties property tax, deed, mortgage, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population.  

About RealtyTrac (Powered by ATTOM's Property Data) 
RealtyTrac.com is the largest online marketplace for foreclosure and distressed properties, helping individual investors and real estate agents looking to gain a competitive edge in the distressed market. Realtytrac.com enables real estate professionals the ability to find, analyze and invest in residential properties.

Media Contact:
Christine Stricker
949.748.8428
[email protected]

Data and Report Licensing:
949.502.8313
[email protected]

SOURCE ATTOM

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