Foreclosure is a word dreaded by many house owners and it has plaguing the United States for a while now. Some states have recovered, with housing markets actually booming, while others have a shortage of supply.
In Florida and New Jersey, however, it is another story altogether. CNBC reports that the two states, as well some of their metropolitan areas, have topped the list of foreclosures last year, based on a data released by RealtyTrac.
Of the two, New Jersey recorded the highest activity rate, at 1.91 percent of homes foreclosure filings, while Florida had the second highest rate at 1.77 percent, followed by Maryland third at 1.60 percent.
On a national scale, the rate was 0.82 percent, and overall foreclosure activity dropped to a nine-year low in 2015, which may still be considered good news, although it may hardly be so to those highly affected areas.
Foreclosures in many markets were expected at the turn of 2015 but economic problems have hit the local areas which resulted to more foreclosures and this time it particularly hit Atlantic City, New Jersey's distressed gambling hub, according to Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president, the report continues.
Among the metropolitan areas hit hardly nationwide, Atlantic City and its surrounding area recorded the highest rate in 2015 at 3.43 percent. It is due to the casino layoffs in 2014 in the seaside's resort in town.
Trenton, New Jersey's capital city, ranked second at 2.14 percent. Meanwhile, Florida metro areas around Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Miami rounded out the top five.
Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president, told CNBC in an email, "Both of those states had the unfortunate combination of a massive volume of foreclosure activity spawned by the housing bubble burst along with a dysfunctional foreclosure process resulting from lenders and servicers cutting corners when it came to foreclosure documentation."
He added that "The combination of volume and dysfunction "led to a long tail of distress in those states that is still being worked through."
Even in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota, foreclosure activities are rising because lower oil prices have hit other housing markets.
