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40 | M R EP O RT SERVICING THE LATEST O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T Foreclosure Activity Increases for Eleventh Consecutive Month Nationwide in March 2022, one in every 4,215 properties had a foreclosure filing against them. A TTOM, along with its subsidiary RealtyTrac, has released its latest Foreclosure Market Report for March and the first quarter of 2022 which has found that there was a total of 33,333 properties with foreclosure fil- ings against them, up 29% from February (which saw 25,833 filings) and up 181% from a year ago. Foreclosure activity has now surpassed numbers seen before the pandemic took hold of the nation two years ago, and this marks the eleventh consecutive month of increasing foreclosure activity. Rick Sharga, the EVP of Market Intelligence for ATTOM, expected numbers to rise this month after the mar- ket saw a lull in new foreclosure filings over the holiday season last year. "Foreclosure activity has contin- ued to gradually return to normal levels since the expiration of the government's moratorium and the CFPB's enhanced mortgage servic- ing guidelines," Sharga said. "But even with the large year-over-year increase in foreclosure starts and bank repossessions, foreclosure ac- tivity is still only running at about 57% of where it was in Q1 2020, the last quarter before the government enacted consumer protection pro- grams due to the pandemic." • Looking at Q1 of 2022 as a whole, there were 78,271 proper- ties with a foreclosure filing against them, up 29% from the previous quarter and 132% from a year earlier. • Foreclosure starts also increased in all 50 states, with a total of 50,759 properties starting the foreclosure process, a num- ber which is up 67% from the previous quarter and 188% from a year earlier. • States that had the greatest number of foreclosure starts last quarter include: California (5,378 foreclosure starts); Florida (4.707 starts); Texas (4,649 starts); Illinois (3,534 starts); and Ohio (3,136 starts). • Nationally, one in every 1,795 houses had a foreclosure filing against it during the first quar- ter. States with the highest fore- closure rates were Illinois (one in every 791 housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (one in 792); Ohio (one in 991); South Carolina (one in 1,081); and Nevada (one in 1,090). • Lenders also repossessed more homes than the previous quarter. 11,824 properties were repossessed by lenders during the first quarter, up 41% from the previous quarter and 160% from a year ago. • Properties foreclosed in Q1 2022 had been in the foreclosure process an average of 917 days, down slightly from 941 days in the previous quarter and down 1% from 930 days in Q1 2021. "March foreclosure activity was at its highest level in exactly two years—since March 2020, when there were almost 47,000 foreclo- sure filings across the country," Sharga added. "It's likely that we'll continue to see significant month-over-month and year-over- year growth through the second quarter of 2022, but still won't reach historically normal levels of foreclosures until the end of the year at the earliest, unless the U.S. economy takes a significant turn for the worse." Other high-level takeaways from the report include: • Nationwide in March 2022, one in every 4,215 properties had a foreclosure filing. • States with the highest fore- closure rates in March 2022 were Illinois (one in every 1,825 housing units with a foreclo- sure filing); New Jersey (one in 2,022); South Carolina (one in 2,299); Delaware (one in 2,579); and Ohio (one in 2,604). • 22,360 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in March 2022, up 35% from the previous month and up 248% from March 2021. • Lenders completed the fore- closure process on 4,406 U.S. properties in March 2022, up 67% from the previous month and up 180% from March 2021.