Florida foreclosure starts up 35% in July


ATTOM Data Solutions’ July 2018 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows that foreclosure starts increased from a year ago in 96 of the 219 metropolitan statistical areas (44 percent) analyzed in the report.
Twenty-one states posted a year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts in July, including Florida (up 35 percent); California (up 3 percent); Texas (up 7 percent); Illinois (up 7 percent); and Ohio (up 2 percent).
Nationwide, 30,187 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process for the first time in July – a 1 percent increase over the previous month and less than 1 percent year-to-year. However, it’s the first increase in foreclosures after 36 consecutive months of year-over-year decreases.
According to ATTOM’s report, four Florida cities have seen a notable change in foreclosure starts over the past three months, including:

  • Miami
    May: 4 percent increase
    June: 35 percent increase
    July: 29 percent increase
  • Jacksonville
    May: 22 percent increase
    June: 22 percent increase
    July: 81 percent increase
  • Orlando
    May: 12 percent increase

    June: 22 percent increase
    July: 41 percent increase
  • Cape Coral-Fort Myers
    May: 11 percent increase
    June: 64 percent increase
    July: 59 percent increase

“The increase in foreclosure starts is not just a one-month anomaly in many local markets given that July represented the third consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in 33 metro areas, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Detroit, San Diego and Austin,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions.
“Gradually loosening lending standards over the past few years have introduced a modicum of risk back into the housing market, and that additional risk is resulting in rising foreclosure starts in a diverse set of markets across the country,” Blomquist says. “Most susceptible to rising foreclosure starts are affordability-challenged markets where homebuyers are more financially stretched and markets with some type of trigger event such as a natural disaster or large-scale layoffs.”
News Source: Florida Realtors.