Foreclosure filings have sunk to a more than 11-year low. However, foreclosures haven’t dried up everywhere, and bargain hunters may still find a deal.
ATTOM Data Solutions reports that U.S. foreclosure activity in the third quarter was 31 percent below the prerecession average. But some of the nation’s hottest markets are seeing elevated foreclosures.
“Elevated foreclosure rates on 2014 vintage FHA loans reflect a gradual loosening of credit as the sustained housing boom is slowly bolstering confidence and increasing risk tolerance in the real estate market,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “This trend also explains increasing foreclosure starts in the third quarter in some of the nation’s hottest housing markets, counter to the national trend. If we see this pattern continue for 2015- and 2016-originated loans as those vintages age, we would expect to see a more widespread—although still relatively modest—lift in foreclosure activity in the next few years.”
Fifty-one metro areas out of 217 tracked by ATTOM Data Solutions posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in the third quarter. Some of the most notable increases were in Milwaukee (up 97 percent year-over-year); Oklahoma City (up 34 percent); Austin, Texas (up 29 percent); Cleveland (up 29 percent year-over-year); Louisville, Ky. (up 27 percent); Columbus, Ohio (up 23 percent); Nashville, Tenn. (up 17 percent); Denver (up 12 percent); Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (up 6 percent); and Cincinnati (up 5 percent).
Overall, the metros (with at least a population of 200,000) that had the highest foreclosure rates in the third quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, were:
- Atlantic City, N.J.: 1 in every 150 housing unit received a foreclosure filing
- Trenton, N.J.: 1 in 234
- Cleveland: 1 in 275
- Fayetteville, N.C.: 1 in 283
- Columbia, S.C.: 1 in 284
- READ MORE: http://realtormag.realtor.org/daily-news/2017/10/17/where-you-can-still-snag-foreclosed-property
