File photo.

Foreclosure rates in the Unites States are climbing, with August numbers nearing 2019 levels.

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 23,952 properties in August, a month-over-month increase of 12% and a 187% increase year-over-year. There were already 34,501 properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — in the U.S., according to real estate website ATTOM.

That puts August foreclosure rates at 86% of where they were in August 2019.

“But it’s important to remember that even then, foreclosure activity was relatively low compared to historical averages,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM in a press release.

—States with the greatest monthly increases included Oklahoma (up 80%), Tennessee (up 74%), Virginia (up 64%), Arkansas (up 53%) and Washington (up 50%).

—The counties that experienced the greatest foreclosure starts were Cook County, IL (798 starts), Los Angeles County, CA (740 starts), Harris County, TX (465 starts), Suffolk County, NY (297 starts) and Riverside County (280 starts).

—Nationwide, one in every 4,072 housing units had a foreclosure filing in August 2022. Illinois (one in every 1,926), Delaware (one in every 2,387), South Carolina (one in every 2,417), New Jersey (one in every 2,441) and Florida (one in every 2,950) rounded out the top five states.

—Bakersfield ranked No. 3 in the nation for cities of at least 200,000 people with the highest foreclosure rates. One in every 1,454 housing units are in foreclosure status. Peoria, IL (one in every 869) and Jacksonville, NC (one in every 968) ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

Lenders repossessed 3,938 properties in August, up 28% month-over-month and 59% year-over-year.

—Illinois (493 REOs), New York (337 REOs), Michigan (326 REOs), Pennsylvania (260 REOs) and California (189 REOs) made up the top five states with completed foreclosures (REOs).