ATTOM Data Solutions released their recent February report showing 17 consecutive months of annual decreases. The report presents foreclosure data hitting an 11-year low, dating back to November 2005.

Still, there were a score of states reporting increases in foreclosure activity which includes New Jersey posting a jump of 16%. Notwithstanding, foreclosure activity still remains below pre-recession levels.

Other states reporting increases in foreclosure activity were:
■  Delaware – 14%
■  Louisiana – 12%
■  Alabama – 10%
■  Hawaii – 8%

States seeing annual increases in foreclosure starts:
■  Alabama up 40%
■  Texas up 26% (Foreclosure starts increased three of the last four months in Texas. 33% of foreclosures are tied to bubble-era loans)
■  New Jersey up 24% (Foreclosure starts increased two of the last three months in New Jersey. Bubble-era loans still represent approximately 61%)
■  Florida up 12% (bubble-era loans still represent approximately 56% in Florida)
■  Illinois up 11%
■  Arizona up 9% (Foreclosure starts increased six of the last 12 months in Arizona. only 39% of foreclosures are tied to bubble-era loans)

For the first-time in a decade, CoreLogic issued its own report on the state of foreclosures, “The report examines the path of the residential foreclosure crisis beginning with the relatively healthy years early in the 2000s, through the peak of the crisis, to present day. The country has started to normalize, recording approximately 22,000 completed foreclosures a month.”

Overview from Corelogic Report
Since the beginning of 2007, there have been approximately 7.8 million completed foreclosures nationally. Beginning in Q2 2004 when homeownership rates peaked, there have been approximately 8.6 million homes lost to foreclosure.

At the end of 2016, the national foreclosure inventory, which reflects all homes in some stage of the foreclosure process, included approximately 336,000, or 0.9%, of all homes with a mortgage compared with 1.4 million homes, or 3.3%, at the peak of the residential foreclosure crisis in September 2010.

CoreLogic, reported during the housing crisis that the number of mortgages in serious delinquency, defined as 90 days or more past due, hit a peak of 3.7 million mortgages, or 8.6% of homes with a mortgage in January 2010. By the end of 2016, 1 million mortgages, or 2.6% of homes with a mortgage, were in serious delinquency.

If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.

Counsellors Title Agency, www.counsellorstitle.com, founded in 1996, is one of New Jersey’s most respected title agencies, serving all 21 New Jersey counties with title insurance, clearing title, escrow, tidelands searches, and closing and settlement services for commercial or industrial properties, waterfront properties and marinas, condominiums, townhouses or residential single family homes. Counsellors Title also features its own Attorney Settlement Assistance Program™ [ASAP], which is an individual resource customized to fit the needs specifically of real estate attorneys, including, Documentation, Preparation, Disbursement of Funds, Attendance at Closing, HUD Preparation or Post-Closing Matters.