Choose which platform to sign into.

New Analysis Shows 54 Percent of Foreclosure Starts in NYC Are “Repeat Foreclosures”, Higher Than Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and Northern New Jersey

IRVINE, Calif. – May 11, 2017 – ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s largest multi-sourced property database, today released its April 2017 U.S. Foreclosure Market data, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 77,049 U.S. properties in April, down 7 percent from the previous month and down 23 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since November 2005.

“Foreclosure activity continued to search for a new post-recession floor in April thanks in large part to the above-par performance of mortgages originated in the past seven years,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “Meanwhile we are seeing an elevated share of repeat foreclosures on homeowners who often fell into default several years ago but have not been able to avoid foreclosure despite the housing recovery.”

Highest foreclosure rates in New Jersey, Maryland and Nevada

Nationwide one in every 1,723 housing units had a foreclosure filing in April 2017.

States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey (one in every 562 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Delaware (one in every 706 housing units); Maryland (one in every 776 housing units); Connecticut (one in every 956 housing units); and Illinois (one in every 1,083 housing units).

Among 217 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in April were Atlantic City, New Jersey (one in every 237 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Fayetteville, North Carolina (one in every 615 housing units); Trenton, New Jersey (one in every 620 housing units); Rockford, Illinois (one in every 668 housing units); and Philadelphia (on in every 733 housing units).

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and seven states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, including New Jersey (up 1 percent); Connecticut (up 29 percent); and Massachusetts (up 3 percent).

Three of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity: St. Louis (up 12 percent); Houston (up 7 percent); and Boston (up 3 percent).

“The Seattle-area economy continues to outperform the rest of the country and the housing market is going gangbusters,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, covering the Seattle market, where April foreclosure activity decreased 38 percent from a year ago.. “As such, I’m not surprised that foreclosure activity continues to head towards pre-housing bubble averages. In fact, as banks continue to unwind their REO portfolios, I expect foreclosure levels in Seattle to drop even further in the coming months.  ”

Foreclosure starts continue to track below pre-recession levels

A total of 34,085 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in April, down 6 percent from the previous month and down 22 percent from a year ago and continuing well below the pre-recession average of more than 77,000 foreclosure starts per month between April 2005 and November 2007.

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and seven states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts, including Connecticut (up 40 percent); Massachusetts (up 34 percent); Alabama (up 10 percent); Missouri (up 10 percent); Oregon (up 7 percent); and Illinois (up 6 percent).

Foreclosure completions down but still above pre-recession levels

Lenders completed foreclosure (REO) on 25,990 U.S. properties  in April, down 9 percent from the previous month and down 22 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since February 2015 — a 26-month (more than 2 year) low and running just above the pre-recession average of 25,796 per month between April 2005 and November 2007.

Counter to the national trend, the District of Columbia and 15 states posted year-over-year increases in REOs in April, including New Jersey (up 45 percent); Arizona (up 25 percent); Louisiana (up 2 percent); Connecticut (up 4 percent); and Oklahoma (up 7 percent).

Repeat foreclosures highest in New York City among five markets analyzed

ATTOM also released a brand-new analysis of “repeat foreclosure starts” in five markets: the five boroughs of New York City; Essex County, Miami-Dade County; Los Angeles County; and Maricopa County (Phoenix), Arizona.

For purposes of this analysis, a repeat foreclosures start was defined as a foreclosure start (initial publicly recorded foreclosure notice starting the foreclosure process) filed on a property address-owner last name combination in 2016 with a previous foreclosure start on the same property address-owner combination in the last 10 years.

Of the five markets, the highest share of repeat foreclosures in 2016 was in the five boroughs of New York City (54 percent), followed by Los Angeles (39 percent); Miami-Dade County (32 percent); Maricopa County (26 percent); and Essex County (20 percent).

Among the five boroughs of New York City, Kings County (Brooklyn) had the highest share of repeat foreclosure starts in 2016 (62 percent), followed by Staten Island (55 percent); Bronx (53 percent); Manhattan (48 percent); and Queens (45 percent).

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 year may have been recorded in the previous year. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. ATTOM’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: DefaultNotice 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 and quarterly reports, if more than one type of foreclosure document is received for a property during the year or quarter, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The annual, 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.

About ATTOM Data Solutions
ATTOM Data Solutions is the curator of the ATTOM Data Warehouse, a multi-sourced national property database that blends property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, health hazards, neighborhood characteristics and other property characteristic data for more than 150 million U.S. residential and commercial properties. The ATTOM Data Warehouse delivers actionable data to businesses, consumers, government agencies, universities, policymakers and the media in multiple ways, including bulk file licenses, APIs and customized reports.

ATTOM Data Solutions also powers consumer websites designed to promote real estate transparency: RealtyTrac.com is a property search and research portal for foreclosures and other off-market properties; Homefacts.com is a neighborhood research portal providing hyperlocal risks and amenities information; HomeDisclosure.com produces detailed property pre-diligence reports.

ATTOM Data and its associated brands are cited by thousands of media outlets each month, including frequent mentions on CBS Evening News, The Today Show, CNBC, CNN, FOX News, PBS NewsHour and in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and USA TODAY.

Media Contact:
Jennifer von Pohlmann
949.502.8300, ext. 139
jennifer.vonpohlmann@attomdata.com

Data Licensing and Custom Report Orders
Investors, businesses and government institutions can contact ATTOM Data Solutions to purchase the full dataset behind the Environmental Hazards Housing Risk Index, including data at the state, metro, county and zip code level. The data is also available via bulk license or in customized reports. For more information contact our Data Solutions Department at 800.462.5125 or datasales@attomdata.com

Interested in purchasing the data cited in our articles?

Or learn more about how businesses are leveraging ATTOM’s property and real estate data? Please complete the form below to connect with a data expert.