Foreclosures down year-to-year, but up in some markets, like Philadelphia

Philadelphia had one of the highest foreclosure rates among metros in August.

In Philadelphia, one in every 887 properties had a foreclosure filing, one of  the highest in the country for metros with at least 1 million residents. Philadelphia fell just behind Baltimore on the list, which had one foreclosure in every 871 housing units and ahead of Las Vegas, which had one foreclosure in every 891 housing units. According to the most recent ATTOM Data Solutions Foreclosure Activity Report, one in every 1,910 homes were foreclosed in August nationally. Across the country, foreclosures were up 9 percent from July, but down 7 percent from August 2017. More than 70,000 properties were foreclosed on in August across the U.S. , or one in every 1,910 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing in August, the report stated.

While foreclosure rates decreased overall nationally, they increased in 44 percent of local markets. Lenders began the foreclosure process on more than 30,000 properties in the country, up 9 percent from July, but down 6 percent from August 2017. The report also found that lenders repossessed more than 20,000 properties in August, an increase of 14 percent from July, but down 1 percent from the previous August. Again, nearly 47 percent of areas reported an increase in lender repossession.

Atlantic City had the highest foreclosure rate among areas with at least 200,000 people. One in every 354 properties had a foreclosure filing in August.

However, foreclosure rates and bank repossessions are down significantly from a decade ago, when monthly, more than 200,000 properties had a foreclosure start and close to 100,000 had a bank repossession.