For most of the period from mid-2020 to recently, the real estate market has been more than healthy. The S&P Case-Shiller home price index is up 20% year over year for many months. However, the low-interest mortgages that fueled this are gone. As the real estate market began to stabilize, foreclosures began to increase. Poor cities tend to have the highest foreclosure levels today. Peoria tops a new list of foreclosure rates.
The Third Quarter 2022 Foreclosures Market Report from real estate research firm ATTOM is titled “U.S. Foreclosure Activity Continues to Rise Near Pre-Pandemic Quarterly Levels.” If the past is any indication, a recession and higher interest rates will make matters worse.
ATTOM defines foreclosure deposits as “notices of default, scheduled auctions or bank foreclosures”. On this basis, there was foreclosure for 93,634 properties. Rick Sharga, Executive Vice President of Market Intelligence for ATTOM, commented: “Foreclosure activity reflects other aspects of the economy as unemployment rates continue to be historically low and unemployment rates continue to be low. Mortgage defaults are lower than they were before the COVID-19 outbreak. ”
Receive our free investment newsletter
Peoria filed for foreclosure on 472 homes in the third quarter. It was followed by another poor city, Cleveland at 589, then Jacksonville, NC, at 593; Columbia, SC, at 599, and Rockford, Illinois, at 602.
Peoria has a population of nearly 113,000. It’s roughly equidistant from Chicago and St. Louis. It has an unusually high unemployment rate of 19.7%, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income of $51,736 is well below the national figure.