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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 81 to state mortgage regulators, $5 million will go to states that took the lead on investigating and working out the settlement, and $1 million will go toward claims administration. Borrowers who lost their homes due to fore- closure during the indicated time period will be eligible for a minimum payment of $840. ose who were foreclosed upon but did not lose their home will receive a minimum payment of $285. NEW YORK New York City Foreclosed Homes Hit 8-Year High According to PropertyShark's annual fore- closure report released this week, the Big Apple had 3,306 homes scheduled for auction last year, a year-over-year increase of 58 percent. PropertyShark releases quarterly reports on the state of foreclosures in New York City, and Q 4 2017 reflected ongoing trends toward rising foreclosures in the city, with year-over-year increases in every borough except Manhattan. After peaking in 2008, New York City foreclosures began dropping year-after-year until they bottomed out in 2012. ey've been increasing slowly ever since. e 2017 total of 3,306 New York homes scheduled for auction is nearly twice the 2015 total of 1,762. New foreclosure auctions in Brooklyn nearly doubled over 2016's totals. PropertyShark re- ports 827 Brooklyn homes scheduled for auction in 2017, the highest number in the past decade. e previous record came in 2008, which only hit a high of 460 properties on the auction block for that year. Staten Island stands out with a massive 134 percent increase in the number of homes scheduled for auction, jumping from 183 to 428 between 2016 and 2017. It's worth noting, how- ever, that this still doesn't beat Staten Island's record for first-time foreclosures—that was set in 2008, when the total hit 616. Queens and the Bronx both saw foreclosure increases of around 40 percent. Queens has the highest number of homes in foreclosure of any of New York's boroughs, leaping from 898 in 2016 to 1,260 in 2017. Even at a 40 percent increase, that total is still well behind the 2008 record of 2,284. As for the Bronx, new foreclosures increased 44 percent for the borough, totalling 650 properties scheduled for auction. at's up from 451 in 2016. e Bronx had a relative calm 2008 compared to many of the other boroughs, having logged only 251 first-time foreclosures in that year. Manhattan, however, defied the trends and saw the rate of new foreclosure auctions remain flat year-over-year. roughout New York City, PropertyShark reports that the number of homes entering the foreclosure process with the receipt of a lis pendens notice—a formal notice of intent to foreclose, sent from the lender to the borrower after several months of delinquency—con- tinued the downward trend of previous years. New York City recorded 12,072 new filings in 2017, which amounted to a four percent year- over-year decrease. at's the lowest total in a decade, with the exception of 2011's 10,911 filings throughout the city. PropertyShark notes that most of the homes that entered the foreclosure auction stage in 2017 had lis pendens filed in 2013 or 2014, and around 20 percent as far back as 2009 and 2010. Single-Family Rental Lease Retention Strengthens as Rents Rise e latest single-family rental research from Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC (headquartered in New York City) shows the rental market following familiar trends in the closing months of 2017, with more renters choosing to renew their expiring leases and delinquency rates holding steady. Morningstar's Single-Family Rental Research Performance Summary shows lease expirations across single-borrower, single- family rental securitizations declining between October and November 2017, dropping from 6.5 percent to 5.2 percent. e retention rate for expiring leases in October 2017 (the latest data available at the time of the report) increased to 79.3 percent in October, up from 76.4 percent in September. Both of these stats reflect a general trend of tenants typically preferring not to move during the winter months. is correlates to a typical slowdown in homebuying during these colder months, which could present opportunities for single-family rental investors to find inventory that will provide a good return on investment, according to a December report by HouseCanary. Morningstar also reports that the aver- age vacancy rate also declined in November, dropping to 5.6 percent from 5.9 percent in October. e Houston metropolitan statistical area (MSA) retained the highest vacancy rate among the top 20 MSAs, unsurprising given the impact of Hurricane Harvey during the fall of 2017. However, after six consecutive months of increases, Houston's vacancy rate did finally decrease to 9.4 percent in November, down from 10.0 percent in October. e Nashville, Tennessee MSA came in with the second highest vacancy rate for November, increasing to 8.0 percent from 7.6 percent in October. On average, rents rose 2.8 percent in November. In Houston, however, rents dipped in November for the third consecutive month. September saw a decrease of 0.8 percent, October a 0.4 percent drop, and November a 0.6 percent drop. According to Morningstar's report, "e rent declines could be in response to the increase in vacancy rates Houston has experienced as the market adjusts. Hurricane Harvey may have partially contributed to the Houston rise in vacancies and decline in rents, but the rise in vacancies started before the hurricane hit." According to a December 2017 report by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, increased demand and low inventory have driven a demand for rental properties, especially among wealthier people who could afford to purchase a home if they so desired. All of this is presenting tons of opportuni- ties for the savvy investor in 2018. You'll be able to find out more during the Single-Family Rental Summit, happening March 19-21 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. According to an annual survey taken among members of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, New York lost out to London as the best real estate investment destination in 2017. The Big Apple was also tied with Los Angeles as the No 1. City in the U.S. for foreign investments in real estate. KNOW THIS

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