Foreclosure starts were up in 44% of metro areas in July (96 of 219 ), according to ATTOM Data Solutions U.S. Foreclosure Market Report out Tuesday.
A total of 30,187 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process, up 1% from the previous month and up less than 1% from a year ago — the first year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts nationwide following 36 consecutive months of year-over-year decreases.
Twenty-one states posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in July, including Florida (up 35%); California (up 3%); Texas (up 7%); Illinois (up 7%); and Ohio (up 2%).
Metro areas posting year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts in July included Los Angeles, California (up 20%); Houston, Texas (up 76%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (up 10%); Miami, Florida (up 29%); and San Francisco, California (up 10%).
“The increase in foreclosure starts is not just a one-month anomaly in many local markets given that July represented the third consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in 33 metro areas, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Detroit, San Diego and Austin,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Gradually loosening lending standards over the past few years have introduced a modicum of risk back into the housing market, and that additional risk is resulting in rising foreclosure starts in a diverse set of markets across the country. Most susceptible to rising foreclosure starts are affordability-challenged markets where home buyers are more financially stretched and markets with some type of trigger event such as a natural disaster or large-scale layoffs.”
Nationwide, one in every 2,086 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing in July. States with the highest foreclosure rates in July were New Jersey (one in every 723 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Delaware (one in every 841); Maryland (one in every 1,038); Florida (one in every 1,180); and Illinois (one in every 1,277).
Among the 219 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 200,000 people, those with the highest foreclosure rates in July were Atlantic City, New Jersey (one in every 448 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Peoria, Illinois (one in every 622); Fayetteville, North Carolina (one in every 683); Trenton, New Jersey (one in every 703); and Philadelphia (one in every 851).
