There was a total of 23,204 properties with foreclosure filings in January, according to ATTOM. That’s up 29 percent from December and 139 percent from a year ago.

“The increased level of foreclosure activity in January wasn’t a surprise,” Rick Sharga, executive vice president of RealtyTrac, an ATTOM company, said in a release. “Foreclosures typically slow down during the holidays in November and December and pick back up after the first of the year. This year, the increases were probably a little more dramatic than usual since foreclosure restrictions placed on mortgage servicers by the CFPB expired at the end of December.”

Lenders repossessed 4,784 properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in January, up 57 percent month-over-month and 235 percent year-over-year. States with 100 or more REOs that saw the greatest monthly increase in January included Michigan (up 622 percent); Georgia (up 163 percent); Texas (up 98 percent); Tennessee (up 50 percent); and Alabama (up 44 percent).

Major metro statistical areas with a population greater than 200,000 that saw the greatest number of REOs included Detroit (1,013 REOs); Chicago (210 REOs); New York (129 REOs); Miami (113 REOs); and Philadelphia (107 REOs).

“It’s very important to keep these numbers in context,” Sharga said. “Foreclosure completions are still far below normal levels – less than half as many as in January of 2020 before the pandemic was declared, and about 60 percent lower than the number of foreclosure completions in 2019. We’re likely to continue seeing large year-over-year percentage increases for the rest of this year, but it’s also likely that foreclosure activity will remain below historically normal levels until the end of 2022.”

States with the highest foreclosure rates in January were New Jersey (one in every 2,336 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Illinois (one in every 2,740); Nevada (one in every 3,119); Michigan (one in every 3,127); and Ohio (one in every 3,251).

Major metros with the highest foreclosure rates in January were Detroit (one in every 1,547 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Atlantic City, N.J. (one in every 1,564); Cleveland (one in every 1,659); Columbia, S.C. (one in every 1,921); and Trenton, N.J. (one in every 2,299).

States with the greatest number of foreclosures starts in January included Florida (1,238); California (1,226); Texas (1,003); Illinois (757); and Ohio (665). Metro areas with the greatest annual increase in foreclosure starts included Minneapolis (up 300 percent); Detroit (up 298 percent); San Antonio (up 291 percent); Jacksonville, Fla. (up 259 percent); and Miami (up 242 percent).