The number of properties with foreclosure filings increased during August, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Foreclosure Market Report.
ATTOM said there were 75,115 properties with foreclosure filings in August, up 14 percent from an all-time low in July, but down 21 percent from a year ago. Five states and the District of Columbia in August had year-over-year increases in foreclosure filings.
Foreclosure filings were up in Alaska (100 percent); Wyoming (79 percent); D.C. (67 percent); Louisiana (59 percent); Vermont (12 percent); and Mississippi (9 percent).
“There is often a seasonal monthly increase in foreclosure activity in August paralleling the seasonal slowdown in the overall real estate market,” ATTOM Data Solutions Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release. “But the 14 percent month-over-month increase nationwide this August is more than twice the average 6 percent seasonal increase in August over the previous 10 years — the highest in fact since a 37 percent month-over-month increase in August 2007.”
“While this seasonal increase is certainly not enough to set off alarm bells nationwide, especially given that foreclosure activity was down annually for the 23rd consecutive month in August, there is cause for concern in a few local markets where foreclosure activity has consistently been trending higher on an annual basis this year,” Blomquist added.
Thirty five metropolitan areas posed year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in August. Those areas included Houston (up 44 percent); Cleveland (up 48 percent); Columbia, S.C. (up 23 percent); New Orleans (up 20 percent); Hartford, Conn. (up 9 percent); and Baton Rouge, La. (up 52 percent).