Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, are down 20 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the Midyear 2017 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report from ATTOM Data Solutions.
“With a few local market exceptions, foreclosures have become the unicorns of the housing market: hard to find but highly sought after,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.
Foreclosures are fading overall, but there has been a notable uptick in some areas. “These divergent foreclosure trends are likely the result of the big banks and government agencies selling off distressed loans over the past few years to non-bank entities that are now foreclosing on an increasing volume of that deferred distress,” Blomquist says.
The states with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2017 were:
- New Jersey
- Delaware
- Maryland
- Illinois
- Connecticut
- Nevada
- Florida
- South Carolina
- Ohio
- New Mexico
On a metro level, the cities (with populations of at least 200,000) with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2017 were:
- Atlantic City, N.J.: 1.71% of housing units with foreclosure filings
- Trenton, N.J.: 1.02%
- Philadelphia, Pa.: 0.79%
- Rockford, Ill.: 0.74%
- Baltimore, Md.: 0.69%
Source: RealtyTrac/ATTOM Data Solutions
