Foreclosure activity drops 19% year-over-year, up 4% from Q4 2017

The number of US homes with a foreclosure filing was up 4% in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the previous quarter but down 19% from Q1, 2017

Foreclosure activity drops 19% year-over-year, up 4% from Q4 2017

The number of US homes with a foreclosure filing was up 4% in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the previous quarter but down 19% from Q1, 2017.

ATTOM Data Solutions’ Foreclosure Market Report shows that the 189,870 homes affected is 32% below the pre-recession average of 278,912 per quarter between Q1 2006 to Q3 2007; the 6th consecutive quarter that has been so.

For March, there were 74,341 homes with foreclosure filings, up 21% from the previous month which was an all-time low, but 11% below March 2017.

"Less than half of all active foreclosures are now tied to loans originated during the last housing bubble, one of several data milestones in this report showing that the U.S. housing market has mostly cleared out the backlog of bad loans that triggered the housing and financial crisis nearly a decade ago," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions.

Foreclosure starts are rising
The data shows an increase in defaults among post-recession loans due to loosened lending standards.

A total of 92,703 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in Q1 2018, up 8% from the previous quarter but still down 10% from a year ago — the 11th consecutive quarter with a year-over-year decrease in U.S. foreclosure starts.

However, 37% of metros saw an increase year-over-year, up from 20% in Q1 2017.

Twenty-three of 53 metropolitan statistical areas with at least 1 million people (43%) posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in the first quarter, led by Indianapolis, Indiana (up 148%); Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (up 64%); Louisville, Kentucky (up 36%); Austin, Texas (up 30%); and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (up 23%).