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.
Jed Danbury is a vice president at Computop.
Ellen is a principal analyst serving financial services technology decision makers in roles such as CIOs and enterprise architects in the insurance and wealth, investment, and asset management industries. Her research focuses on the technology decisions that financial services firms are investing in, including core platforms modernization and replacement and the integration of emerging technologies with legacy systems to drive better digital experiences and improved operational efficiency.
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Prior to her current research coverage, Ellen spent eight years providing strategic analysis and advice to Forrester’s insurance digital business strategy clients, focusing on eBusiness strategies and best practices in digital and customer experience as well as adoption trends for property and casualty, life, group, and health insurers.
Ellen brings 30 years of experience in delivering technical and professional services to clients in a variety of industries and markets. She joined Forrester from the former ThruPoint, a New York-based professional services firm, where she was a principal consultant focusing on IT service business strategy to Global 100 clients in securities, banking, and insurance; telecommunications; and media and entertainment. Before joining ThruPoint, Ellen was a director and principal analyst for Gartner, following the infrastructure services market, including consulting, support, and managed services.
Ellen has presented on vertical-industry and role-based marketing in a variety of Forrester and client events. She has been cited in Forbes, Fortune, the New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Best’s Review, Carrier Management, Rough Notes, Digital Insurance, New Scientist, and American Banker.
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Ellen received a B.S. in economics from Southern New Hampshire University.
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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.
