New York Metro 2024 Foreclosure Report: Annual Foreclosures Down 14% in 2024, Cooled by New Jersey Deceleration

Key Takeaways:

  • New York metro foreclosures slow 14% in 2024, driven by 20% drop in New Jersey markets
  • Foreclosures down in 71% of metro counties as 17 of 24 counties log fewer cases compared to 2023
  • NYC foreclosures decline 9% Y-o-Y, fueled by the performance of the Queens and Manhattan markets
  • Despite slowdown, New Jersey foreclosures still account for 40% of metro caseload
  • An 8% Y-o-Y uptick in foreclosure filings make Hudson County the only New Jersey market with first-time cases on the rise in 2024
  • Suffolk County comprises 15% of metro New York foreclosures in 2024, totaling 933 first-time filings as the metro’s most active market
  • Nassau County claims the metro’s sharpest drop in first-time filings with cases down 43% Y-o-Y
  • Up 76% Y-o-Y, the Bronx logs metro’s sharpest increase in foreclosure activity  
  • NYC’s commercial foreclosures sector slows 20% Y-o-Y to just 72 cases

After tracking the New York City foreclosure market for well over a decade now, we expanded our foreclosures and distressed properties reporting beyond the boundaries of the five boroughs to include much of the New York metro area. As a result, this New York metro foreclosure report now extends beyond NYC to Long Island; the Lower and Mid-Hudson Valley; and Central and North Jersey counties.

Foreclosures Slow in 71% of Metro Markets: Most New Jersey Markets Down vs. Just Over Half of New York’s

In 2024, the metro New York foreclosure market slowed after recording 14% fewer cases across the region than in the previous year. Furthermore, this decline cancelled out the increase in foreclosure activity observed in 2023 to bring the region’s caseload slightly below 2022 levels. Specifically, there were 6,221 first-time foreclosures in 2024 and 6,254 in 2022.

The foreclosure sector’s slowdown was strong across the metro with 17 of the 24 counties in our report recording fewer first-time filings in 2024 than 2023. That means that 71% of the region saw foreclosure activity decrease year-over-year with the sharpest drops recorded in Somerset County, N.J., (-40%) and Nassau County, N.Y. (-43%). Moreover, first-time foreclosures decreased by 20% or more in half of metro New York counties.  

At the same time, foreclosure activity heated up in just six counties and remained flat in New Jersey’s Morris County. Noticeably, of the six counties where first-time filings were on the rise year-over-year (Y-o-Y), Hudson County (+8%) was the only New Jersey market. This was in line with the overall stronger slowdown in New Jersey foreclosures: While first-time filings decreased 10% across the metro’s New York component, the metro’s New Jersey counties recorded 20% fewer first-time cases in 2024.

Notably, the five locations with the highest numbers of foreclosures in the metro were in just one New Jersey county (Essex County with 414 cases) and four New York locations, including Brooklyn (451); Nassau County (567); Queens (581); and the metro’s foreclosure hotspot, Suffolk County (933).

Suffolk County Claims 15% of Metro Foreclosures, More Than the Lower & Mid-Hudson Valley Combined

Last year’s foreclosure slowdown in metro New York may have been strongly influenced by the strong deceleration of its New Jersey markets, but it was also sustained by the metro’s New York markets, which averaged a 10% Y-o-Y decrease: The metro’s 12 New York counties went from 4,145 first-time foreclosures in 2023 to 3,729 cases last year.

Meanwhile, although foreclosures rose year-over-year in just one of New Jersey’s metro markets, among the metro’s New York markets, trends were more balanced in 2024: Foreclosure incidences rose in five of the 12 New York counties in the metro and decreased in seven. The sharpest increases in foreclosure activity were observed in the Bronx (+76% Y-o-Y), Putnam County (+39% Y-o-Y) and Rockland County (+28% Y-o-Y).

Conversely, the most dramatic drop in foreclosure cases was observed in Nassau County. Here, foreclosures were nearly halved in 2024 with filings dropping 43% below 2023 levels. Consequently, Nassau County totaled 567 first-time cases. While that caseload kept Nassau as the metro’s third-most active foreclosure market in 2024, it was actually the metro’s most active foreclosure market in 2023 and the only county to surpass 1,000 first-time filings.

Meanwhile in 2024, the metro’s most active foreclosure market was Suffolk County, which closed the year with 933 cases or 15% of metro New York foreclosures. This was the result of a 20% Y-o-Y increase in first-time filings. It’s worth noting that the two Long Island counties together accounted for 1,500 foreclosures last year or 24% of metro New York foreclosures.

What’s more, the two counties also accounted for twice as many foreclosures as the combined caseload of the Lower and Mid-Hudson Valley with Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties totaling 754 first-time filings. Long Island even managed to surpass NYC’s 2024 caseload.

NYC Residential Foreclosures Make Up 24% of Metro’s Caseload Driven by Queens Activity

Last year brought lower foreclosure rates to NYC, as well, with the city’s annual caseload dropping 9% Y-o-Y. As a result, NYC went from its 2023 post-pandemic foreclosure peak of 1,620 first-time filings to 1,475 cases in 2024.

At the borough level, trends were familiar, but inconsistent: While foreclosures trended down year-over-year in four of the five boroughs, decreases ranged between -4% and -31% Y-o-Y. In the end, Queens’ heavy domination of NYC’s foreclosure sector remained the heaviest factor for citywide trends.

More precisely, Queens foreclosures trended down 8% Y-o-Y to total 581 cases in 2024 and make it the second-most active foreclosure market in the metro, only surpassed by Suffolk County’s 933 first-time filings. As a matter of fact, Queens was the setting for 9% of the metro’s 2024 foreclosures and 39% of NYC foreclosures.

Meanwhile, Queens' foreclosure hotspot was zip 11434, covering Rochdale, Jamaica, Saint Albans and Brookville. Yet, despite claiming 41 first-time filings, it was not NYC’s foreclosure hotspot in 2024. Rather, it was surpassed by zip 11236 in Brooklyn’s Canarsie, which totaled 47 unique foreclosures last year. In fact, Brooklyn was metro New York’s fourth-most active foreclosure market in 2024 despite a 17% Y-o-Y drop, closing the year with 451 first-time filings.

Next, Manhattan was the city’s most steady foreclosure market, inching down just 4% Y-o-Y for the least drastic change among the five boroughs. Manhattan’s most active area for foreclosures was zip 10027. Incorporating parts of Harlem and Morningside Heights, 12 of the borough’s 163 foreclosures were located here last year.

The Bronx went against the grain again and foreclosures here accelerated, even as the rest of the city saw incidences decrease. In fact, the 76% Y-o-Y surge in cases logged by the Bronx was the sharpest increase in foreclosures across the metro. The Bronx closed 2024 with 144 first-time foreclosure filings.

This also meant that the Bronx gave up its post-pandemic role as the city’s least-active foreclosure market, now occupied by Staten Island with 136 first-time foreclosures, the result of a 31% Y-o-Y drop. Notably, Staten Island’s leading foreclosure cluster also switched from the more common Mid-Island to zip 10312, which includes parts of Arden Heights, Annadale, Woodrow, Huguenot and Eltingville. The area concentrated 21 of the borough’s foreclosures. 

In terms of asset types, single and two-family homes represented the majority of residential foreclosures in both 2023 and 2024 with two-family homes taking a slight lead last year. Specifically, two-family homes accounted for 480 cases (33%) and single family homes made up 469 cases (32%). Overall, NYC’s foreclosure market saw a familiar mix and ratio of property types, but co-op and condo foreclosures did slow at sharper rates with 13% fewer co-op and 16% fewer condo units foreclosed in NYC year-over-year.

NYC Commercial Foreclosure Market Slows 20% Y-o-Y, Logs Just 72 Cases in 2024

NYC’s commercial foreclosure sector was also on a declining trend, slowing 20% Y-o-Y from 90 cases in 2023 to just 72 commercial foreclosures in 2024. As has been the case throughout 2023, Brooklyn's commercial foreclosure market was NYC’s most active in 2024 as well, despite a 13% Y-o-Y decline in commercial filings. Still, Brooklyn’s 53 cases represented three-quarters of the commercial foreclosures in the city, including two of the highest liens that went to the block last year.

However, Manhattan was still the setting for the top two most expensive defaulted liens, including a $70 million lien tied to 12-story pre-war office building in Koreatown that sold for nearly $27 million back in February 2024. Meanwhile, a nine-story Lenox Hill office building from the mid-80s with a $67 million lien traded owners in June for $34 million. Overall, there were only six commercial foreclosures in Manhattan last year, down from 2023’s 10 cases.

Queens commercial foreclosures slowed even more, dropping 44% Y-o-Y from 16 filings to just nine last year, while Staten Island had one case and the Bronx three.

Top 5 Most Expensive Commercial Foreclosures Sold in 2024

RankBoroughAddressLien Ammount Sale DateSale AmountAuction Date
1Manhattan5 East 59th St.$69,747,127 2/28/2024$26,682,500 1/17/2024
2Brooklyn1630 East 15th St.$66,865,796 6/27/2024$34,000,000 6/27/2024
3Manhattan29 West 35th St.$57,612,459 09/14/2024 $22,761,100 8/21/2024
4Brooklyn271 Lenox Rd.$42,700,000 10/25/2024$10,360,000 9/19/2024
5Bronx151 East 170th St.$11,821,952 3/29/2024$8,553,068 2/5/2024

Looking ahead, of the priciest foreclosures headed to auction, Manhattan is again home to the most expensive, a two-property No-Mad package deal headed to the block with a $9 million lien, followed by an under 10,000-square-foot East Flatbush multifamily building with an $8.6 million lien.

Top 5 Most Expensive Commercial Foreclosures Scheduled for Auction in Q1 2025

RankBoroughAddressLien Ammount Sale DateSale AmountAuction Date
1Manhattan5 East 59th St.$69,747,127 2/28/2024$26,682,500 1/17/2024
2Brooklyn1630 East 15th St.$66,865,796 6/27/2024$34,000,000 6/27/2024
3Manhattan29 West 35th St.$57,612,459 09/14/2024 $22,761,100 8/21/2024
4Brooklyn271 Lenox Rd.$42,700,000 10/25/2024$10,360,000 9/19/2024
5Bronx151 East 170th St.$11,821,952 3/29/2024$8,553,068 2/5/2024

Hudson County Only New Jersey Market in Metro with Residential Foreclosures on the Rise in 2024

The foreclosure slowdown of 2024 across the 24 metro counties was strongly influenced by New Jersey’s foreclosure deceleration: Although the metro logged a 14% Y-o-Y decrease, its New Jersey counties averaged a 20% Y-o-Y drop in first-time foreclosures. As a result, the metro’s New Jersey region totaled 2,492 first-time filings in 2024 compared to 3,119 in the previous year. In fact, Hudson County was the sole New Jersey market in the metro where foreclosures increased, rising 8% Y-o-Y for a total of 157 cases in 2024.

However, 10 of the metro’s 12 New Jersey markets saw fewer foreclosures last year than in 2023 with seven of these markets slowing by at least 20% Y-o-Y. And, in some New Jersey markets, foreclosures dropped by as much as 34% Y-o-Y (Passaic County) or even 40% Y-o-Y (Somerset County). It’s worth noting here that Morris County remained flat year-over-year, totaling 180 first-time cases.

Although foreclosure filings slowed on the metro’s New Jersey side, some markets still stood out. In particular, the metro’s most active New Jersey markets were Essex County with 414 foreclosures, followed by Ocean and Bergen counties (330 and 300 foreclosures, respectively).

See how first-time foreclosures evolved in 2024 across metro New York:

Methodology

Having tracked foreclosure listings for more than a decade, PropertyShark is the only service in New York that guarantees 100% coverage of the local foreclosure market. Because auctions are frequently postponed and/or rescheduled, the statistics referenced in this report include only first-time foreclosures in order to avoid over-reporting the number of distressed properties in the city.

This report focuses on residential properties (single and two-family homes; condos; and co-op units) that were scheduled for auction for the first time in 2024 in metro New York.

Metro New York was defined as a 24-county area comprising:

  • 5 NYC counties: New York (Manhattan), Kings (Brooklyn), Queen (Queens), Bronx (The Bronx) and Richmond (Staten Island).
  • 2 Long Island counties: Nassau and Suffolk.
  • 3 Lower Hudson Valley counties: Putnam, Rockland and Westchester.
  • 2 Mid-Hudson Valley counties: Dutchess and Orange.
  • 7 North Jersey counties: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and Union.
  • 5 Central Jersey counties: Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Somerset.

This report also includes data on NYC commercial properties that went into foreclosure in 2024.


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Eliza Theiss

Eliza Theiss

Eliza Theiss is a senior writer reporting real estate trends in the US. Her work has been cited by CBS News, Curbed, The Los Angeles Times, and Forbes among others. With an academic background in journalism, Eliza has been covering real estate since 2012. Before joining PropertyShark, Eliza was an associate editor at Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive. She has also contributed extensively to CommercialEdge. Reach her at [email protected]