Signs of distress increased in South Florida’s housing market in the first half of 2019 as there were more foreclosure filings, according to Attom Data Solutions.
The Irvine, California-based company tracks foreclosure lawsuit filings, notices of auction and repossessions across the nation. There were 10,258 such foreclosure filings in the tri-county area in the first half of 2019, up 7% from the same period a year ago. That was primarily driven by a 23% increase in foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County.
Most troubling, the increase in filings came because of new foreclosure lawsuits, as opposed to older cases seizing houses. There were 5,663 foreclosure lawsuit starts in South Florida in the first half of 2019, a 32% increase.
Only 36 of the 220 metro areas Attom tracks had a year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity.
“You still have pockets across the nation where foreclosure activity is seeing some flare-ups,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at Attom. “Foreclosure starts is a good indication of markets to watch. For instance, in looking at the largest markets across the nation with the greatest annual increase in foreclosure starts, four out of the five markets were in Florida.”
Orlando and Jacksonville both had greater increases in foreclosure activity than South Florida.
The metro market with the highest foreclosure rate was Atlantic City, New Jersey with 0.92% of all housing units with a foreclosure filing. Jacksonville was second at 0.54%. South Florida had the 16th-highest foreclosure filing rate at 0.41%.
Original content The Real Deal
