Foreclosures fell to a 12-year low in 2017, offering more evidence that the housing crash is slipping into history.
According to
In the 10-county Columbus area, foreclosure documents were filed on 4,697 properties last year, down from 6,719 the previous year to the lowest level since Attom started tracking Columbus data in 2006. Foreclosure activity peaked in the Columbus area in 2010, with 19,958 filings.
Last year, 2,242 foreclosure lawsuits — the first step in the foreclosure process — were filed in central Ohio, down from 2,904 the previous year and the lowest level Attom has recorded. Bank repossessions and sheriff sales also fell to record lows in the Columbus area last year, according to Attom.
Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom, attributed the "foreclosure limbo" to a booming housing market that has helped limit home purchases to well-qualified buyers.
The only markets showing lingering effects of the housing crash are those with strong judicial restrictions that delayed foreclosures, Blomquist said.
In those areas, which include New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., "a backlog of legacy foreclosure activity left over from the last housing crisis is still winding its way through a labyrinthine foreclosure process," Blomquist said.
Foreclosure filings were reported on one out of every 178 central Ohio properties, giving central Ohio the 74th-highest foreclosure rate out of the 217 metropolitan areas Attom tracks.
