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.
Lamine Zarrad is the founder and CEO of StellarFi, a credit builder that reports unlimited bill payments to the three major credit bureaus. Since 2008, Lamine has worked in various financial services roles, launching his career with Merrill Lynch and later transitioning to the public sector as a National Banker Examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Prior to Stellar, Lamine founded FinTechs Tokken and Joust. The latter was acquired by ZenBusiness where Lamine led the product organization through two fund raises, minting the company as one of the few Austin Unicorns. At StellarFi, Lamine and his team are on a mission to disrupt the U.S. poverty cycle and provide credit access to 132 million Americans with low or no credit. Lamine has been awarded a Bachelors in Business Administration in International Business and Russian Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Masters of Public Affairs degree with a focus on Policy Analysis/Public Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Lamine was born in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan and came to the United States as a refugee prior to serving in the Marine Corps. Lamine speaks four languages and resides in Austin, Texas with his family.
David Braun is founder and CEO of Capstone Strategic, an M&A strategic consulting firm that has successfully facilitated over $1 billion of client transactions in over 30 countries across more than 100 industries. He is the author of Successful Acquisitions: A Proven Plan for Strategic Growth. He is reachable at dbraun@capstonestrategic.com and on Twitter @CapstoneStrat.
Olivia Kelman is a partner at K&L Gates
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.
