ATTOM, a California-based curator of land, property and real estate date, has released its “Midyear 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report,” which shows there were a total of 177,431 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the first six months of 2024. That figure is down 4.4 percent from the same time period a year ago but up 7.8 percent from the same time period two years ago.
“In contrast to the first half of 2023, foreclosure activity across the United States experienced a decline in the first half of 2024,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “In addition, U.S. foreclosure starts also decreased by 3 percent in the first six months of 2024. These shifts could suggest a potential stabilization in the housing market; however, monitoring these evolving patterns remains crucial to understanding the full impact on the real estate sector.”
States that saw the greatest increases in foreclosure activity compared to a year ago in the first half of 2024 included South Dakota (up 93 percent), North Dakota (up 86 percent), Kentucky (up 73 percent), Massachusetts (up 46 percent) and Idaho (up 30 percent).
Nationwide, 0.13 percent of all housing units (one in every 794) had a foreclosure filing in the first half of 2024.
States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2024 were New Jersey (0.21 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing); Illinois (0.21 percent); Florida (0.20 percent); Nevada (0.19 percent); and South Carolina (0.19 percent).
Other states with first-half foreclosure rates among the 10 highest nationwide were Maryland (0.19 percent); Connecticut (0.19 percent); Delaware (0.18 percent); Ohio (0.18 percent); and Indiana (0.16 percent).
Utah had 1,214 properties (0.1 percent) enter foreclosure proceedings in the first six month of 2024, the report said.
Among the 224 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2024 were Lakeland, Florida (0.32 percent of housing units with foreclosure filings); Columbia, South Carolina (0.31 percent); Atlantic City, New Jersey (0.28 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (0.27 percent); and Spartanburg, South Carolina (0.27 percent).
A total of 130,369 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in the first six months of 2024, down 3.5 percent from the first half of last year and down 32 percent from the first half of 2020.