Atlantic City Goes From “Queen of Resorts” to King of Foreclosures

Atlantic City, which had the highest foreclosure rate of any U.S. metropolitan area in 2015, continued to hold that honor in the quarter just ended. Photo | Wikimedia Commons

Atlantic City is on a roll. But the dice keep coming up snake eyes.

In this particular case, the bad luck streak pertains to foreclosure activity. The latest figures from RealtyTrac, released yesterday, show the seaside metropolis led all metropolitan areas nationwide in foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2016, with one in every 106 housing units under a foreclosure filing.

This continues a long streak of distress in AC, where casino closings have hammered the local economy. Foreclosure activity continues to run well above pre-Great Recession rates: the first-quarter foreclosure rate for the city is 348 percent above pre-recession levels.

The rest of the Greater Philadelphia region isn’t faring that much better, by the way. Second on the list of top 10 metros for foreclosure activity in the first quarter is Trenton, where there’s a foreclosure filing on one in every 168 housing units, a rate 255 percent above pre-recession levels. And metropolitan Philadelphia itself is in the top 10, with foreclosure activity running 97 percent above pre-recession levels.

Foreclosure activity in all of these areas, however, is down from their post-recession peaks. Activity in Atlantic City is off 11 percent from its peak; in Philadelphia, it’s down 12 percent, and in Trenton, it’s down 23 percent. Nationwide, 97 percent of U.S. metro areas had foreclosure activity below peak levels, according to RealtyTrac.

At the state level, RealtyTrac data show the Mid-Atlantic states still in a high level of distress. New Jersey ranked second only to Maryland in foreclosure rates in the first quarter of 2016. Delaware ranked fourth and Pennsylvania tenth.