As we move further away from last decade's housing crisis, its lingering impacts on the real estate market are dwindling.

But the Garden State still can't escape its role as the No. 1 state in the nation for the percentage of properties in the foreclosure process.

The foreclosure rate was higher in New Jersey than in any other state in the first half of 2018, the second quarter of 2018, and the month of June, according to the newest figures from real estate tracker Attom Data Solutions.

Their analysis of June 2018 found over 5,700 properties in New Jersey with a foreclosure filing — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions. That means one in every 624 housing units was somewhere in the foreclosure process.

New Jersey's rate is actually down 2 percent from a year ago, but the foreclosure picture has been so nasty over the last few years, the decrease isn't enough to erase New Jersey's unfortunate distinction as the foreclosure leader.

Through the first six months of the year, foreclosure filings hit 26,667 New Jersey properties — one out of every 125.

Forty-seven percent of New Jersey's foreclosures are linked to loans that originated between 2004 and 2008, the data show.

"I do think that it can't be blamed anymore on just the legacy foreclosures," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president for Attom Data Solutions.

In the Atlantic City region, the foreclosure rate was a whopping 8.6 percent on FHA loans that originated in 2014. Nationwide, the rate was 1.28 percent.

The Atlantic City and Trenton metropolitan areas posted the highest foreclosure rates in the nation from January through June of this year.

For the second straight quarter, the nation saw a dip in the average amount of time it takes for a foreclosure to go from start to finish. The current average in New Jersey is 1,161 days — third highest in the country.

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Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com.

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