Home foreclosure filings ticked up a bit across the United States in May from the previous month, but filings continued to edge lower on a year-over-year basis.
While the number of foreclosure actions initiated by lenders increased, fewer filings resulted in lenders taking back properties, according to a report issued by real estate data firm ATTOM.
The overall count of foreclosure filings for the month was 32,621, including default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions. That number was up 3% from April but down 7% from a year earlier. Similarly, ATTOM reported foreclosure filings were down 4% in April from the same month in 2023.
The count in May included 22,385 foreclosure starts, when a lender initiated the process, and 2,879 instances in which a lender completed the process and repossessed a foreclosed property. The number of properties lenders repossessed was down 1% from April and 28% from one year prior.
"May's foreclosure activity highlights nuanced shifts in the housing market," Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, said in a statement. "The decline in completed foreclosures indicates resilience in certain areas.”
Highest Rates
Among major U.S. metropolitan areas with more than 1 million residents, Chicago had the highest rate of foreclosure filings with one filing for every 2,015 homes in May. The number of foreclosure starts in Chicago was 1,272, more than any other big city aside from New York, which had 1,447.
Chicago also had the highest number of lender repossessions with 179. New York was second with 124.
On the state level, the foreclosure filing rate was highest in New Jersey with one filing for every 1,939 homes, followed by Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut and Florida.
Foreclosures have declined over the past year after they jumped in 2021, when a national foreclosure moratorium triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic lifted and lenders were allowed to file cases against delinquent borrowers.