Foreclosure Down…and Up for 2018

Year-end mortgage foreclosure data released by Attom data Solutions showed U.S. Foreclosure activity dropped to a thirteen (13) year low in 2018.  In spite of this good news, there were areas that suffered higher foreclosure rates in the same period.  Among those with rising foreclosure rates, Texas, Michigan and Florida were among the highest in the U.S.

Todd Teta, Chief Product Officer of ATTOM Data Solutions voiced belief that the drop in foreclosures combined with the shorter 2018 foreclosure timeline is evidence that the financial mess from the great recession is almost cleared.  Still Teta cautioned “…there was also some evidence of distress gradually returning to the housing market in 2018, with foreclosure starts increasing from the previous year in more than one-third of all state and local housing markets.”

You might recall that some of that financial housing distress was exacerbated by natural disasters in states suffering hurricane damage, but areas like Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and others posted double digit increased in mortgage foreclosure starts and were nowhere near natural disaster areas. 

U.S. Foreclosure starts in 2018 are down 6 percent from 2017 but 18 states are showing a rise in foreclosure starts.  States with higher Foreclosure starts are led by: New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois,  Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, and Delaware.

U.S. states seeing a significant decline in foreclosure starts are led by: Rhode Island, down by 39 percent; Hawaii, down 26 percent; Washington down 24 percent; North Carolina, down 24 percent and Connecticut down 23 percent.