Coming off the eviction moratoriums in Fall 2021, many worried about the impending foreclosures that could likely follow. New data, however, shows that last year had the lowest number of foreclosures on record.
Foreclosure filings dropped 8 percent in December, with just over 9,000 properties entering the process, according to Attom Data Solutions. Repossessions were also at their lowest point since 2006.
“The COVID-19 foreclosure tsunami that some people had anticipated is clearly not happening,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, said in the report. “Government and mortgage industry efforts have prevented millions of unnecessary foreclosures, and while it’s likely that we’ll see a slight increase in the first quarter, we probably won’t see foreclosure activity back to normal levels before the end of 2022.”
The number of properties with foreclosure filings in 2021 represented 0.11 percent of all housing units, according to the report. That’s down from 0.16 percent in 2020, and, as Inman points out, far below the 2.23 percent posted during the foreclosure peak of 2010.