Foreclosures rose 13% in October from September, a new foreclosure market report from ATTOM Data Solutions said.
Although foreclosures went up in October over the previous month, they were down 17% from a year ago. There were a total of 55,197 properties with foreclosure filings in the U.S. in the third quarter.
“While foreclosure activity across the United States rose in October, in looking at historical trends, October numbers tend to increase as lenders may be pushing filings through the pipeline before the holiday season,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions.
Lenders repossessed 13,484 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures in October, which is 14% more than in September.
This is the highest point in total completed foreclosures in 2019. Ironically, in September, foreclosures were the lowest they had been since 2005.
States that saw the greatest number in REOs, or completed foreclosures, in October 2019 included: Florida with 1,493 REOs; Texas with 912 REOs; Michigan with 890 REOs; California with 824 REOs; and Illinois with 805 REOs.
Nationwide, one in every 2,453 housing units had a foreclosure filing in October.
States with the highest foreclosure rates were New Jersey, with one in every 1,316 housing units with a foreclosure filing; Illinois, with one in every 1,336 housing units; Maryland, with one in every 1,484 housing units; South Carolina, with one in every 1,534 housing units; and Florida with one in every 1,571 housing units.
Lenders started the foreclosure process on 28,667 U.S. properties in October 2019, up 17% from last month but down 1% from a year ago – the first double-digit month over month increase since February 2018.
States that saw a double-digit increase from last month included; Arizona, up 52%; Ohio, up 52%; Florida, up 48%; New Jersey, up 47%; and California, up 36%.
Despite the national trend, 13 states and Washington, DC posted month over month decreases in foreclosure starts in October 2019, including Maryland, down 42%; Idaho, down 36%; Delaware, down 32%; Nebraska, down 26%; and Utah, down 25%.
“The latest number is still below where it was a year ago and less than 15% of what it was during the depths of the Great Recession,” Teta said.
