U.S. Foreclosure Activity Increases Slightly in May 2022

Foreclosure Starts Decrease 1 Percent from Last Month, While Completed Foreclosures Increase 1 Percent

IRVINE, Calif. - June 14, 2022 -- ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property data, today released its May 2022 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 30,881 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 1 percent from a month ago but up 185 percent from a year ago.

Illinois, New Jersey and Delaware had the highest foreclosure rates

Nationwide one in every 4,549 housing units had a foreclosure filing in May 2022. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Illinois (one in every 2,000 housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (one in every 2,346 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,426 housing units); Ohio (one in every 2,667 housing units); and Florida (one in every 2,788 housing units).

"While there's some volatility in the monthly numbers, foreclosure activity overall is continuing its slow, steady climb back to normal after two years of government intervention led to historically low levels of defaults," said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM. "But with inflation now at a 41-year high, and runaway prices on necessities like food and gasoline, we may see foreclosure activity ramp up a little faster than most forecasts suggest."

Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in May 2022 were Jacksonville, NC (one in every 1,052 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Cleveland, OH (one in every 1,389 housing units); Chicago, IL (one in every 1,777 housing units); Fayetteville, NC (one in every 1,823 housing units); and Rockford, IL (one in every 1,861 housing units).

Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million, with the worst foreclosure rates in May 2022 including Cleveland, OH and Chicago, IL were: Jacksonville, FL (one in every 1,985 housing units); Orlando, FL (one in every 2,295 housing units); and Miami, FL (one in every 2,432 housing units).

Florida, California and Texas had the greatest number of foreclosure starts

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 22,099 U.S. properties in May 2022, down 1 percent from last month but up 274 percent from a year ago.

States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts in May 2022 included: Florida (2,483 foreclosure starts); California (2,238 foreclosure starts); Texas (2,019 foreclosure starts); Illinois (1,757 foreclosure starts); and Ohio (1,285 foreclosure starts).

Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million and that had at least 100 foreclosure starts in May 2022 and saw increases from last month included: Miami, FL (up 81 percent); Washington, DC (up 60 percent); Birmingham, AL (up 56 percent); Cincinnati, OH (up 54 percent); and Jacksonville, FL (up 54 percent).

"It's interesting that there were almost ten times more foreclosure starts than foreclosure completions," Sharga added. "This suggests that financially-distressed borrowers may be finding ways to avoid losing their home to a foreclosure sale."

Foreclosure completion numbers increase 1 percent from last month

Lenders repossessed 2,857 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in May 2022, up 1 percent from last month and up 117 percent from last year.

States that had the greatest number of REOs in May 2022, included: Illinois (350 REOs); Michigan (249 REOs); Pennsylvania (226 REOs); New Jersey (175 REOs); and Ohio (146 REOs).

Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs in May 2022 included: Chicago, IL (289 REOs); New York, NY (133 REOs); Detroit, MI (124 REOs); Philadelphia, PA (98 REOs); and Pittsburgh, PA (79 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

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