How the pandemic has changed the foreclosure game - and where it hasn't.
Interested in where foreclosures rates were highest and underwent growth in 2020? Check out the full report below.
A notice of default (NOD) is the beginning of the foreclosure process for most home owners unable to pay their mortgage any longer.
The number of foreclosures strongly correlates with the number of home sales occuring at any given time. With the global COVID-19 pandemic causing a low supply in most markets as well as prompting Government protection for certain mortgages, foreclosure filings are down nationwide compared to pre-pandemic levels by over 60% in December. Additionally, total number of NODs across all of 2020 decreased by nearly 50% for the nation.
The amount of time between mortgage filing and notice of default for insolvent households increased from 3844 days in 2019 to 4241 days in 2020 (about 10.5 years to 11.6 years). So far in 2021, this has increased even further to 4963 days (about 13.6 years), though this will likely decrease — possibly drammatically — when the pandemic eases.
In December of 2020, 5736 ZIP codes had at least one notice of default, whereas 9847 (71.7% more) ZIP codes had a NOD in December of 2019.
One area of the US very notably has not experienced a significant decrease in foreclsoure filings — Pennsylvania. Of the top 10 ZIP codes by highest percentage of homes with a NOD in 2020, 7 were located here, and an additional two more were in neighbouring states.
