It has been well over a decade since America’s foreclosure disaster. Tied to The Great Recession, a primary cause was that too many Americans with poor credit ratings were given variable-rate mortgages. As rates rose and many lost their jobs, they could not make monthly mortgage payments. Banks faced defaults, and eventually owned tens of thousands of homes they could not manage. Entire neighborhoods had vacant homes where people were pressed out by these banks.
The foreclosure problem has returned, but not at nearly high as in 2008 and 2009. According to a recent analysis by property data provider ATTTOM, foreclosure filings hit a post-pandemic high in the first quarter of 2022, at 78,271, up 39% from the previous quarter and 132% from the same period last year. To find the state with the most foreclosures, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed foreclosure data from 2021 and 2022 provided by ATTOM Data Solutions. States are ranked by the number of foreclosures per 100,000 housing units.
Foreclosure activity is still 57% lower than it was in the first three months of 2020, but the return to normal is rapidly approaching. Foreclosures have declined in the 12 months through March 2022 in only three states — Alaska and the Dakotas — while foreclosure activity jumped by well over 200% in five states — New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Nevada, and Michigan. Foreclosure activity shot up nearly 500% in Nevada and Michigan. Nationwide, foreclosure activity rose 135%.
Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia had the greatest number of foreclosure filings. For cities with populations under 200,000, the highest foreclosure rates took place in Cleveland, Ohio; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Jacksonville, North Carolina; Rockford, Illinois; and Columbia, South Carolina.
In three states — Wyoming, Louisiana, and Mississippi — underwater mortgages accounted for between 10% and 17% of all mortgages, the most among states. An underwater mortgage is when a home is worth less than the money owed on the mortgage.
The state with the highest foreclosure rate is Illinois. Here are the details:
> Foreclosure rate, Q1 2022: 126.4 per 100,000 homes
> Chg. in foreclosure filings, Q1 2021 to Q1 2022: +178.4%
> Mortgages seriously underwater, Q1 2022: 7.2%
> Total housing units: 5,426,429
Click here to read States With the Worst Foreclosure Rates
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