Connecticut still trailing U.S. on foreclosures

Connecticut entered July with the fifth-highest rate of residential mortgages under foreclosure in the nation, according to a study Thursday of more than 360,000 foreclosures nationally over the first six months of the year.

As of the most recent records posted by the Connecticut state courts, Bridgeport had the largest number of pending foreclosure sales in the coming month at 30 properties, followed by the cities of Stamford, New Haven and Hartford with 18 each. But affluent towns are seeing activity, as well, with a half-dozen foreclosure sales under way in Westport, five in Ridgefield and a pair of properties in Greenwich.

Across Connecticut, 40 of every 10,000 homes were part of a foreclosure proceeding between January and June, according to Irvine, Calif.-based Attom Data Solutions, to include new default notices, lender repossessions or scheduled auctions.

Bridgeport, Conn.

As the case in several other states, in 2008 Connecticut created a foreclosure mediation program lenders must follow in an attempt to create a loan-workout program. The program is free for homeowners in arrears, with details online at www.jud.ct.gov/foreclosure.

New Jersey had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation at 80 homes in every 10,000 in the first half of the year, Attom determined, with Atlantic City the worst off of any metropolitan area in the nation at a foreclosure rate of 148 homes, followed by Trenton at 96.

Between April and June, foreclosures across the New York City region were higher by half from their levels heading into the 2008 housing panic and recession.

After New Jersey in the first half of 2018, Delaware, Maryland and Illinois were the next three worse-off states for foreclosure activity, with Connecticut the only other state in the Northeast in the top 10. Florida ranked ninth with a rate of 37 foreclosures for every 10,000 houses, versus a U.S. rate of 27.

Foreclosure activity nationally was down 15 percent from a year ago, Attom found, and off nearly 80 percent from the peak in 2010 when 1.65 million U.S. properties were under foreclosure.

Attom indicated that since 2014 when the Federal Housing Administration began easing lending standards, FHA mortgages issued in that period have seen increased levels of foreclosure activities.

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Foreclosures Distressed REO Attom Data Solutions Connecticut
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