U.S. Foreclosure Starts Increase 15 Percent in First Six Months of 2023; Average Days to Complete a Foreclosure Hits Peak; June and Q2 2023 Foreclosure Activity Also Post Annual Increases

IRVINE, Calif. — July 13, 2023 — ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its Midyear 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 185,580 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2023. That figure is up 13 percent from the same time period a year ago and up 185 percent from the same time period two years ago.

“Similar to the first half of 2022, foreclosure activity across the United States maintained its upward trajectory, gradually approaching pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2023,” stated Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “Although overall foreclosure activity remains below historical norms, the notable surge in foreclosure starts indicates that we may continue to see a rise in foreclosure activity in the coming years.”

WATCH: ATTOM Mid-Year 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report 

States that saw the greatest increase in foreclosure activity compared to a year ago in the first half of 2023 included Maryland (up 100 percent); Oregon (up 99 percent); Alaska (up 95 percent); West Virginia (up 83 percent); and Arkansas (up 72 percent).

Illinois, New Jersey, and Maryland post highest state foreclosure rates

Nationwide, 0.13 percent of all housing units (one in every 752) had a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2023.

States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2023 were Illinois (0.25 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (0.24 percent); Maryland (0.23 percent); Delaware (0.23 percent); and Ohio (0.20 percent).

Other states with first-half foreclosure rates among the 10 highest nationwide were South Carolina (0.19 percent); Florida (0.19 percent); Nevada (0.19 percent); Indiana (0.18 percent); and Connecticut (0.16 percent).

Highest metro foreclosure rates in Cleveland, Atlantic City, and Fayetteville

Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2023 were Cleveland, Ohio (0.33 percent of housing units with foreclosure filings); Atlantic City, New Jersey (0.33 percent); Fayetteville, North Carolina (0.30 percent); Columbia, South Carolina (0.29 percent); and Lakeland, Florida (0.29 percent).

Other major metro areas with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 highest in the first half of 2023 were Chicago, Illinois (0.28 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing); Jacksonville, Florida (0.26 percent); Florence, South Carolina (0.26 percent); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (0.25 percent); and Elkhart, Indiana (0.25 percent).

Foreclosure starts up 15 percent from last year

A total of 135,065 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2023, up 15 percent from the first half of last year and up 36 percent from the first half of 2020.

States that saw the greatest number of foreclosures starts in the first half of 2023 included California (14,217 foreclosure starts); Florida (13,837 foreclosure starts); Texas (13,419 foreclosure starts); New York (8,772 foreclosure starts); and Illinois (7,995 foreclosure starts).

Bank repossessions climb in first half of 2023 from last year

Lenders foreclosed (REO) on a total of 22,672 U.S. properties in the first six months of 2023, up 9 percent from the first half of 2022 and up 133 percent from the first half of 2021, but down 40 percent from the first half of 2020.

States that posted the greatest number of REOs in the first half of 2023 included Michigan (2,423 REOs); Illinois (2,059 REOs); Pennsylvania (1,420 REOs); California (1,362 REOs); and New York (1,350 REOs).

Q2 2023 foreclosure activity below pre-recession averages in 78 percent of major markets

There were a total of 97,608 U.S. properties with a foreclosure filings during the second quarter of 2023, up 2 percent from the previous quarter and up 8 percent from a year ago.

The national foreclosure activity total in Q2 2023 was 65 percent below the pre-recession average of 278,912 per quarter from Q1 2006 to Q3 2007.

Second quarter foreclosure data was below pre-recession averages in 173 out 223 (78 percent) metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000 and sufficient historical foreclosure data, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Riverside-San Bernardino, Phoenix, and Detroit.

Metro areas with second quarter foreclosure activity above pre-recession averages included Honolulu, HI; Richmond, VA; Baltimore, MD; Virginia-Beach, VA; Albany, New York; and Montgomery, AL.

Average time to foreclose hits all-time high

Properties foreclosed in Q2 2023 had been in the foreclosure process an average of 1,212 days, the highest number of average days to foreclose since Q1 2018. That figure was up 28 percent from the previous quarter and up 28 percent from Q2 2022.

States with the longest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q2 2023 were Michigan (2,601 days); Louisiana (2,252 days); New York (1,966 days); Hawaii (1,934 days); and Kentucky (1,921 days).

States with the shortest average foreclosure timelines for homes foreclosed in Q2 2023 were Wyoming (104 days); Minnesota (145 days); Montana (160 days); Texas (162 days); and Missouri (170 days).

June 2023 Foreclosure Activity High-Level Takeaways

• Nationwide in June 2023, one in every 3,972 properties had a foreclosure filing.
• States with the highest foreclosure rates in June 2023 were Maryland (one in every 1,733 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Delaware (one in every 2,171 housing units); New Jersey (one in every 2,189 housing units); Connecticut (one in every 2,272 housing units); and Illinois (one in every 2,348 housing units).
• 24,019 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in June 2023, up 3 percent from the previous month and up 8 percent from June 2022.
• Lenders completed the foreclosure process on 3,215 U.S. properties in June 2023, down 20 percent from the previous month and down 1 percent from June 2022.

U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State – Jan to Jun 2023

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

ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation’s population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property navigator and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management – ATTOM Cloud.

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