Alabama second for May foreclosure starts

alabama foreclosure

Free from the coronavirus-related moratorium on foreclosures, the rate of foreclosure starts in May jumped 36% from last year, according to statistics compiled by ATTOM, though it was down 8% from April.

Alabama saw a much higher rate of foreclosure starts, however, up 78%. That came second after Ohio, up 96%; and just ahead of Michigan, up 65%; Georgia, up 61%; and Virginia, up 50%.

“While the increase in foreclosure activity is significant, it’s important to keep these numbers in perspective,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac. “Last year’s numbers were extraordinarily low due to the implementation of the foreclosure moratorium and the CARES Act mortgage forbearance program, so the year-over-year numbers look a lot more dramatic than they are. And May foreclosure activity actually declined compared to April.”

ATTOM also tracks statistics for cities with more than 200,000 people. Mobile ranked fifth on that list with one in every 4,174 housing units in foreclosure proceedings. Cities with worse rates were Champaign, Illinois, where one in every 2,420 house units has a foreclosure filing; Peoria, Illinois with one in 3,030 units; Cleveland, Ohio, with one in 3,715, and Bakersfield, California, with one in every 3,774. Nationwide, one in every 12,700 housing units was in foreclosure proceedings.

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