Nevada had second-highest foreclosure rate in August

In this photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 in Las Vegas, a couch left behind at a foreclosed home sits at the end of the driveway.
AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

(Robert Davis) – Nevada had the second-highest foreclosure rate in the country last month, according to a report by a property data firm.

The report from ATTOM Data Solutions says the total properties with foreclosure filings across the country stands at one out of every 8,677 housing units. In Nevada, that total was one out of every 4,877 units, second only to Illinois, where one out of every 3,848 properties is under foreclosure.

In Las Vegas, the foreclosure rate stands at one in every 3,718 housing units, good enough to rank the metropolitan area fifth highest among 200 comparable metros.

The report analyzed data from ATTOM’s “RealtyTrac” database, which tracks foreclosure and distressed property filings across the country. Nationwide, more than 15,000 properties have foreclosure filings, including default notices and bank repossessions. This represents a 27% month-over-month increase, and a 60% increase when compared to August 2020.

While some housing market watchers may see this as a good sign, Rick Sharga, executive vice president at RealtyTrac, says the opposite may be true in many markets.

“As expected, foreclosure activity increased as the government’s foreclosure moratorium expired, but this doesn’t mean we should expect to see a flood of distressed properties coming to market,” he said in a statement.

Despite Nevada’s high foreclosure rate, other states surpassed the Silver State in actual foreclosure starts – where an entity with foreclosure power formally begins the process.

Last month, lenders accounted for the biggest group to start the foreclosure process. A total of 8,348 foreclosure starts were processed in August, up 27% from July and 49% from August 2020, according to ATTOM.

States such as Texas, Illinois, New York, and Florida all surpassed Nevada in foreclosure starts.

“While foreclosure starts increased significantly compared to last month and last year, it’s very important to keep these numbers in context,” Sharga said. “Both last year’s and last month’s foreclosure starts were artificially low due to the government’s moratorium.”

By

Robert Davis | The Center Square contributor