ATTOM Data Solutions, the nation’s most comprehensive aggregator of foreclosure data, reported last week that the number of foreclosure filings in the 3rd Quarter (July-September) of 2020 was down 12% from the 2nd Quarter and down 81% nationally from the same quarter a year ago. Denver was down 89% and Colorado was down 90%. Only three cities and four states recorded bigger year-over-year declines.
The combination of foreclosure moratoria and forbearance programs was a primary contributor to these drops, so the question on many people’s minds is whether we’ll see a flood of foreclosure filings when these programs end sometime in the coming months.
In a press release, Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac, a related company, is quoted as follows:
“We’ll certainly see more repossessions by lenders once the foreclosure moratoria have ended, but maybe not as many as people might expect. Given the record amount of homeowner equity – over $6.5 trillion – it seems likely that many homeowners in financial distress will opt to take advantage of strong demand among homebuyers and sell their property rather than risk losing it to a foreclosure auction.”
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