U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DIPS IN JULY 2023 WHILE LENDER REPOSSESSIONS CONTINUE TO CLIMB

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Aug 10, 2023, 07:01 ET

Foreclosure Starts Down 12 Percent from Last Month; But Completed Foreclosures Up 4 Percent

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its July 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 31,877 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 9 percent from a month ago but up 5 percent from a year ago.

"The slight decline in foreclosure filings we are seeing is yet another sign of a rebounding housing market," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. "With home prices back up, several factors have combined to put more financial resources in the hands of homeowners, providing more options to avoid foreclosure. However, given with the U.S. housing market remains in flux, the various forces at play could keep the market improving or turn it back downward over the coming months."

Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware post highest foreclosure rates
Nationwide one in every 4,380 housing units had a foreclosure filing in July 2023. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Maryland (one in every 2,071 housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (one in every 2,335 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,343 housing units); Illinois (one in every 2,430 housing units); and South Carolina (one in every 2,511 housing units).

Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in July 2023 were Fayetteville, NC (one in every 1,367 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Atlantic City, NJ (one in every 1,708 housing units); Columbia, SC (one in every 1,747 housing units); Trenton, NJ (one in every 1,870 housing units); and Cleveland, OH (one in every 1,957 housing units).

Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the worst foreclosure rates in July 2023, including Cleveland, OH, were: Baltimore, MD (one in every 1,991 housing units); Las Vegas, NV (one in every 2,098 housing units); Jacksonville, FL (one in every 2,243 housing units); and Philadelphia, PA (one in every 2,273 housing units).

Salt Lake City, Honolulu and Kansas City see largest declines in foreclosure starts
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 21,020 U.S. properties in July 2023, down 12 percent from last month and down 2 percent from a year ago.

States that saw the greatest monthly declines and had 10 or more foreclosure starts in July 2023 included: Hawaii (down 51 percent); New Hampshire (down 45 percent); Idaho (down 43 percent); Arkansas (down 40 percent); and Alabama (down 38 percent).

Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest monthly declines in foreclosure starts in July 2023 included: Salt Lake City, UT (down 63 percent); Honolulu, HI (down 53 percent); Kansas City, MO (down 46 percent); Rochester, NY (down 43 percent); and Birmingham, AL (down 41 percent).

Foreclosure completions continue to increase monthly and annually
Lenders repossessed 3,332 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in July 2023, up 4 percent from last month and up 9 percent from last year.

States that had the greatest number of REOs in July 2023, included: Illinois (355 REOs); Pennsylvania (230 REOs); California (217 REOs); Michigan (200 REOs); and Texas (200 REOs).

Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs in July 2023 included: Chicago, IL (233 REOs); New York, NY (148 REOs); St. Louis, MO (104 REOs); Baltimore, MD (82 REOs); and Philadelphia, PA (80 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.

About ATTOM
ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency, and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, 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. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property navigator and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.

Media Contact:
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SOURCE ATTOM