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Houston is heating up — but not in a good way.
The metro posted one of the sharpest spikes in its residential foreclosure rate in the country, while Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, led the nation with the steepest drop in its rate.
More than 40 percent of the top 225 metropolitan statistical areas saw their foreclosure rates increase both year over year and quarter over quarter, according to an analysis of data provided by Attom to The Real Deal. Meanwhile, 21 percent — 48 markets — saw both metrics drop compared to the quarter and year before.
Nationwide, about 102,000 U.S. properties had some type of foreclosure filing during the third quarter, according to Attom. That figure was 1 percent higher than the quarter before and 17 percent higher compared to the same time last year.
The rise in residential foreclosures in the third quarter has worsened, as rising expenses — from home insurance to utilities — have made it tougher for homeowners to pay bills. In the second quarter, the yearly growth in the country’s foreclosures was just 6 percent.
Of the 91 markets that notched quarterly and annual rises in their foreclosure rates, the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA in Texas stood out as being the most in danger.
The metro region had high quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year surges in its foreclosure rate compared to the rest of the top MSAs. For instance, it ranked ninth with a yearly increase in its foreclosure rate of nearly 114 percent. The metro’s quarterly rise in its rate was also up there, ranking twenty-seventh among the most populous markets with a surge of about 24 percent.
Overall, the Houston area had the 14th highest foreclosure rate in the third quarter, as one in every 720 housing units had a foreclosure filing — either a default or auction notice or that a property has been repurchased by a bank — attached to it. It was also the market with the greatest number of foreclosure starts in the third quarter, with about 3,800.
In Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg-Carlisle area stood out for recording among the steepest quarterly and yearly drops in its foreclosure rate, which was the sixth-lowest nationwide. The metro’s rate fell by about 44 percent quarterly and yearly, placing the market third and second, respectively, on those rankings.
The top MSAs, which have a population of at least 200,000 residents, had two outliers in the third quarter as well: Bellingham, Washington, experienced a staggering 600 percent surge in its foreclosure filings year over year — the greatest spike in the country. But it seems the market has seen improvement recently, as its rate plunged by 22 percent compared to the second quarter. That was one of the largest drops in the country.
Meanwhile, the Burlington and South Burlington, Vermont MSA experienced somewhat of the opposite phenomenon. The region recorded a 60 percent rise in its foreclosure rate year over year. But the market appears to have worsened: it notched the greatest quarterly increase among the metros, of 300 percent.
However, Burlington-South Burlington still has the second-lowest foreclosure rate overall, as just 1 in every 12,800 homes is in foreclosure.
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