Foreclosure filings started the year higher on a month-to-month basis, but the jury is still out on whether it is normal seasonality or signs of larger trend, Attom Data Solutions said.
In January, a total of 30,816 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions – were recorded, up 8% from the prior month's 28,632 but down 7% from a year ago, when this totaled 33,270.
The monthly increase in foreclosure filings may be partially the result of what Rob Barber, Attom's CEO, called a normal post-holiday catch up for such activity. But it might be a precursor for
"It's too early to know if 2025 will shift from the general 2024 trends of a continued decline in foreclosure activity," Barber said in a press release. "We will keep a close eye on the market to see how interest rates, inflation, employment shifts, and other market dynamics impact foreclosures in 2025."
Nationwide one in every 4,618 housing units had a foreclosure filing in January, led by Delaware (one in every 1,839 housing units); Nevada (one in every 2,430); Indiana (one in every 2,459); Illinois (one in every 2,756); and Utah (one in every 3,251), Attom said.
In January 2024, one in every 4,236 units had a filing, while in December it was one in every 4,922.
Corelogic released data from November that found the share of loans considered seriously delinquent was unchanged year-over-year at 1%, while those past due 120 days or more and in foreclosure was also flat at 0.7%. The 90-to-119-day bucket was also unchanged at 0.3%.
But the total share of loans 30 days or more late in November was up by 0.3 percentage points compared with 2023, to 3.2%, which Corelogic said was the highest rate since February 2022.
The increase was widespread as nearly 80% of metropolitan areas saw growth in the share of overall delinquencies, and 35% showed a rise in serious delinquencies, which Corelogic defines as 90 days past due or more.
A pair of the nation's top 10 metro areas had total delinquency rates at or over 4% in November: Houston at 4.9% and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach at 4%. They were also two of the four with seriously delinquent rates over 1%, at 1.8% and 1.3% respectively. The other two were New York at 1.4% and Chicago at 1.2%.
Houston had the largest year-over-year increase in both of those categories among the nation's largest cities at 0.8 percentage points and 0.5 percentage points respectively.
But Asheville, North Carolina, hit hard by Hurricane Helene, had its overall delinquency rate rise by 3.7 percentage points, the most in the nation.
Not all of that means that the foreclosure will be completed, or even that a wave of real estate owned properties is imminent.
Last July, Attom put out data that showed the
As a result, it is no surprise that completed foreclosures where the lender repossessed the property and moved it into REO status, were flat (a gain of less than 1%) in January (2,973) compared with December (2,957), and down 25% year-over-year (3,954), the newest Attom data showed. On an annual basis, completed foreclosures have declined in 11 of the past 12 months.
For those investors that buy foreclosed properties at auction, the slowdown in activity is making the waters rough in that segment.
"With fewer foreclosures, auction inventories have become more limited, increasing competition among investors," said Steve Choe, head of lending at
Choe noted that this had helped to maintain overall market stability because home values have been stabilized with the lack of a flood of distressed properties coming into the inventory.
"However, for buyers seeking affordable investment opportunities, the shrinking pool of foreclosure auctions means they must explore alternative acquisition strategies," Choe said.
Previously, Auction.com issued a baseline scenario where
