New Jersey and Florida account for almost half of the 50 U.S. counties whose housing markets are most vulnerable to the economic effects of the coronavirus, an Attom Data Solutions report said.
Attom ranked 483 counties across the country based on the percentage of housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in the fourth quarter, the number of underwater properties in each county and the percentage of local wages required to pay for major homeownership expenses.
Thirty-six of the top 50 most vulnerable counties had median home prices in the $160,000-to-$300,000 range, the report noted.
Of the 10 most vulnerable counties, six are in New Jersey, including Sussex at No. 1 and Warren at No. 2.
"It looks like the Northeast is more at risk than other areas," Todd Teta, Attom's chief product officer, said in a press release. "As we head into the spring home buying season, the next few months will reveal how severe the impact will be."
Among the New Jersey counties that would be most affected, five are in the New York metropolitan area: Bergen, Essex, Passaic, Middlesex and Union. However, of the four counties in New York that Attom considered to be most vulnerable, only Rockland was in proximity to New York City.
Grayson Milbourne is the Security Intelligence Director at OpenText Cybersecurity, a division of OpenText. Grayson's nearly two decades of security intelligence expertise include malware analysis, data science, and security education. In his current role, Grayson is focused on efficacy development to ensure the company's security management products (which include the Webroot portfolio) are able to defend against the most cutting-edge threats.
Grayson is a longtime advocate for better 3rd party testing of security products and represents OpenText Cybersecurity at the Anti-Malware Testing and Standards organization, AMTSO. Through his efforts, AMTSO released testing standards that greatly improved testing quality when followed. Grayson is an avid participant in the security community and drives awareness of current threats by speaking at major events such as RSAC and Virus Bulletin. He is a frequent guest on local NBC affiliates and several cybersecurity podcasts. Beyond his passion for protecting people from cyberthreats, Grayson loves aviation and holds a private pilot license. His other passions include strategic boards games, skiing and playing golf. He lives in Louisville, Colorado with his wife, Danielle and their two cats, Theodore and Aiden.
Merrilee Matchett is the head of Global Customer Service & Operations and a member of the Strategic Advisory Group for MetLife. In this role, she directs a team of more than 10,000 associates responsible for managing the operations and servicing teams that support and enable the U.S. Group Benefits, Retirement & Income Solutions, MetLife Holdings, and Asia, EMEA and LATAM businesses across more than 40 global markets. She is also the Chairperson of MetLife Europe, and MetLife Europe Insurance.
Matchett joined MetLife in 2021 from Bank of America, where she was responsible for service and operations for global wealth management, private banking, and institutional and personal retirement businesses supporting more than $3 trillion in client balances. She was also the Chairperson of Financial Data Services, LLC, responsible for the end-to-end operational support of domestic and offshore mutual funds.
Matchett has been an advocate for diversity and women in financial services throughout her 30-year career and has been recognized with numerous market awards for outstanding service and operations performance. She is a member of the MetLife enterprise Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council, and represents MetLife on the board of INROADS, helping to provide career pathways for talented diverse youth across the United States.
She holds a B.A. in management with a law major from the University of Canberra, Australia. Additionally, she is FINRA accredited and licensed to trade and run a broker dealer.
Nathan Kotler is head of trading for GenTrust, responsible for the management and oversight of the firm's multi-asset trading operations. He works closely with the CIO and asset class heads to implement bespoke investment management solutions for clients across all major asset classes, including exchange traded products, fixed income, futures and derivatives.
For New York City proper, all five boroughs were in the middle of the list: Staten Island was ranked 161, Queens was 271, Manhattan at 312, Brooklyn at 320 and the Bronx was 327.
Most of the Florida counties considered at risk are in the northern and central portions of the state. But Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, is also on that list.
There were four counties in the metro Chicago area on the list were Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will in Illinois. Cook County, which includes Chicago proper, is ranked 53rd most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, the only California county on the 50 most vulnerable list is Shasta. Los Angeles County was No. 276. The Bay Area counties were also in the bottom half of the list.
At the other end of the spectrum, 10 of the counties where the housing market is least vulnerable to the coronavirus are in Texas. Seven are in Wisconsin and there are five in Colorado.
King County in Washington, where Seattle is located, was the 20th least vulnerable county according to Attom.
