Completed Foreclosures (REOs) Decrease 86 Percent From Last Year; Foreclosure Starts Decrease 12 Percent From Last Month
IRVINE, Calif. — February 11, 2021 — ATTOM Data Solutions, licensor of the nation’s most comprehensive foreclosure data and parent company to RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), a foreclosure listings portal, today released its January 2021 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 9,702 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 11 percent from a month ago and 80 percent from a year ago.
“January foreclosure activity declined at least in part due to the Biden Administration’s decision to continue the foreclosure moratorium on government-backed loans through the end of March,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac executive vice president. “The moratorium and CARES Act mortgage forbearance program have effectively prevented millions of seriously delinquent loans from entering the foreclosure process. But it’s important to remember that the number of foreclosures we’re seeing right now doesn’t reflect market reality – and that’s something we’ll need to deal with once these government programs expire.”
Foreclosure completion numbers continue decline
Lenders repossessed 1,428 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in January 2021, down 28 percent from last month and down 86 percent from last year – thirteenth consecutive annual decline in completed foreclosures.
States that saw an annual decrease in REOs in January 2021 included: Illinois (down 86 percent); Florida (down 83 percent); Maryland (down 83 percent); California (down 82 percent); and Texas (down 82 percent).
Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 200,000 that saw the greatest number of REOs included: Birmingham, AL (124 REOs); Chicago, IL (65 REOs); Baltimore, MD (41 REOs); Miami, FL (40 REOs); and Beaumont, TX (38 REOs).
Highest foreclosure rates in Delaware, Louisiana and Florida
Nationwide one in every 14,164 housing units had a foreclosure filing in January 2021. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Delaware (one in every 4,923 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Louisiana (one in every 6,581 housing units); Florida (one in every 7,920 housing units); Indiana (one in every 8,668 housing units); and Alabama (one in every 8,707 housing units).
Among the 220 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in January 2021 were Lake Charles, LA (one in every 2,050 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Birmingham, AL (one in every 3,053 housing units); Lafayette, LA (one in every 3,492 housing units); Provo, UT (one in every 3,631 housing units); and Beaumont, TX (one in every 3,871 housing units).
Other than Birmingham, among the metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million, those with the worst foreclosure rates in January 2021 included: Jacksonville, FL (one in every 5,657 housing units); Cleveland, OH (one in every 5,660 housing units); Miami, FL (one in every 6,867 housing); and Louisville, KY (one in every 7,541 housing units).
Foreclosure starts increase monthly in 17 states
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 5,235 U.S. properties in January 2021, down 12 percent from last month and down 80 percent from a year ago.
Counter to the national trend, some states saw increases in foreclosure starts from last month including: Washington (up 63 percent); Virginia (up 54 percent); North Carolina (up 32 percent); Massachusetts (up 21 percent); and Ohio (up 10 percent).
Among the 220 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 100 or more foreclosure starts in January 2021, those that saw double digit annual declines, included: Chicago, IL (down 87 percent); New York, NY (down 85 percent); Los Angeles, CA (down 80 percent); Dallas, TX (down 77 percent); and Houston, TX (down 69 percent).
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Report methodology
The ATTOM Data Solutions 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.
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About ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions 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 premier foreclosure listing and search portal for investors and consumers looking to gain a competitive edge in the distressed market. Realtytrac.com grants access to insight that is typically only available to real estate professionals.
Media Contact:
Christine Stricker
949.748.8428
christine.stricker@attomdata.com
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