Brunswick County, North Carolina Court Filings Intelligence

• Filing volume accelerating (+18.6%) — last 3 complete months (760 filings) vs prior 3 complete months (641 filings). Excludes the current calendar month (in progress).
• Max gross cap rate 5.8% at HUD Fair Market Rent — $17,112/year (2BR FMR × 12) on the $292,560 median estimated market value. Section-8-eligible rent ceiling; real-market rent typically exceeds FMR; excludes operating costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management).
• 83.7% of filings are Lien — the dominant lead category in Brunswick County during the observed window.

About Brunswick County

Brunswick County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 136,693. Its population was only 73,143 in 2000, making it one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. With a nominal growth rate of approximately 47% in ten years, much of the growth is centered in the eastern section of the county in the suburbs of Wilmington such as Leland, Belville and Southport. The county seat is Bolivia, which at a population of around 150 people is among the least populous county seats in the state.

Source: Wikipedia

At a glance

Filing type breakdown

Each row is a distinct case as recorded on the county docket.

Monthly filing activity

Each row reflects new filings entering the dataset that month, after ownership verification. Most recent month may be partial.

Geographic concentration by ZIP

Top 4 ZIPs in Brunswick County account for 0.3% of all tracked filings, showing where distressed real estate activity clusters.

Based on filings with a parseable property address (0% of Brunswick County filings).

Property value distribution

Source: third-party property enrichment (24% coverage on Brunswick County filings). Median $292,560; mean $316,854.

Day-of-week filing pattern

Filings show some weekend activity, suggesting after-hours electronic filing. Computed for 2571 filings with a parseable date.

Housing stock + distress signals

Underlying housing stock and distress indicators across all 93977 Brunswick County housing units, from US Census ACS 5-year data. National reference values shown for context.

Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS 2023 5-year). National reference values are ACS 2022 5-year US totals. Why these matter: vacancy rate is the strongest single proxy for distressed inventory; mortgage-carrying share defines the risk pool exposed to rate environment; pre-1940 stock signals deferred maintenance and renovation opportunity; senior population correlates with probate pipeline depth.

Rent benchmark (HUD Fair Market Rent)

HUD sets Fair Market Rents at the metro area level — the same FMRs apply to every county within the metro. Brunswick County sits within the Wilmington, NC. Used to set Section 8 voucher amounts; investors use it as a defensible rent-estimate floor for buy-to-rent underwriting.

Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents (None). 40th-percentile gross rent including utilities. Why this matters: Section-8-eligible tenants are a baseline demand floor for rental inventory at these price points; FMR is the official ceiling for voucher-eligible rents.

New construction (market momentum)

Annual building permits filed in Brunswick County from the US Census Building Permits Survey. Trend signal on whether new housing demand is accelerating or contracting in this market.

Source: US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, annual cumulative data. Why this matters: permits trending up signals strong demand for new inventory; permits contracting at the same time foreclosure activity rises indicates broader market softening (deals price differently). Multifamily share shows whether the market is densifying or holding to single-family stock.

Macro context: state home prices and national delinquency

Brunswick County filings should be read against the broader housing-market backdrop. North Carolina state home-price trend and the national mortgage-delinquency rate are the two macro signals most directly relevant to foreclosure exposure.

Sources: Federal Housing Finance Agency state house price indices (FRED series NCSTHPI); Federal Reserve Board, Mortgage Delinquency 30+Day Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages (FRED series DRSFRMACBS). Updated quarterly. Free public data.

Filing velocity by case type

How each distress category is trending — are foreclosures accelerating while divorces cool, or vice versa? This breakdown is only possible with direct court-record data.

Trend = recent 2-3 month volume vs prior 2-3 months (current partial month excluded). Positive = accelerating; negative = cooling.

Seasonal filing patterns

Court filings peak in Jun and are lowest in Nov. The 3.3x peak-to-trough ratio suggests strong seasonal patterns — investors who time their outreach around Jun can reach more distressed homeowners.

Average filings per calendar month across all observed years. Relative column shows each month as a percentage of the peak month (Jun), with a 3.3x peak-to-trough ratio.

ZIP code distress hotspots

Distress is geographically dispersed across 4 ZIP codes, with no single area dominating.

Top 4 of 4 ZIP codes with filings.

Non-resident owner analysis

Most filings (100%) involve owner-occupied properties. The relatively low absentee rate suggests distress is primarily hitting homeowners, not institutional investors.

Non-resident = owner's mailing address differs from the property address. Could indicate out-of-state landlords, inherited estates, second homes, or in-transition properties.

Distress composition and shifts

The distress mix is stable across all case types. Low diversity — distress is dominated by one or two case types, suggesting a concentrated driver.

Distress diversity score: 0.79 (Shannon entropy; higher = more diverse distress sources). "Recent" = last 2 complete months; "Earlier" = all prior months.

Property Value Profile

The median assessed value of properties in court filings is $280,280. Divorce filings involve the highest-value properties (median $306,360), while Pre-Foreclosure filings trend lower (median $277,130). The largest segment (52.6%) falls in the $250K - $500K range.

Based on county assessor records for 683 properties with court filings (26.5% of total filings). Values are tax-assessed amounts, not market listing prices.

Distress Capital Analysis

$198,242,440 in assessed property value is currently tied up in 683 court-filed properties. Lien filings represent the largest capital pool ($168,665,660 across 603 properties).

Capital at Risk by Filing Type

Based on 683 properties with assessor valuations (26.5% of 2575 total filings). Values are county assessor estimates. Equity calculated from estimated value vs outstanding mortgage balance where available.

Market Absorption & Turnover Analysis

2,571 court filings tracked with 0 resolved (0.0% absorption rate). The court system is accumulating cases faster than they resolve, creating a growing backlog of 2,571 active cases.

Resolution by Case Type

Absorption rate measures the percentage of filed cases that have reached a terminal resolution (judgment, dismissal, settlement, or sale). A low absorption rate indicates a growing backlog of active cases in the court system. Resolution timing based on 0 resolved cases out of 2571 total filings.

Case Aging & Stall Analysis

59 cases (2.3%) have been active for over a year without resolution. 255 filings in the last <30 days represent fresh opportunities.

Case aging computed from filing date to present for unresolved cases. Resolution classified from court docket entries (judgments, settlements, dismissals, sheriff sales). Cases with a resolution event are removed from the stall count.

Quarterly Filing Volume Trends

Filing trends across 4 comparable quarters show 2,302 tracked filings in Brunswick County. Most recent quarter (2026 Q2: 712) was rising vs prior (2026 Q1: 593, +20.1%).

Only comparable quarters shown (collection ramp-up periods excluded). Filing dates from verified court records. Current partial quarter excluded from trend calculations.

Property Value Distribution

The median property value in distressed filings is $279,885, with the largest concentration (33.6%) in the $300K–$500K range. Divorce filings have the highest median value ($291,720) while Lien filings are lowest ($278,100).

Assessed property values from county assessor records for 664 properties (25.8% of total filings). Values reflect tax-assessed amounts, not market price.

Repeat litigation patterns in Brunswick County

Of 2,265 unique property owners in court filings, 164 (7.2%) appear in multiple cases, including 52 with 3 or more filings. The most active repeat filer has 15 cases spanning 10 months. Pre-Foreclosure cases have the highest repeat rate at 22.6%.

Repeat rate by case type

Analysis based on 2,265 unique owner names across court filings. Repeat filers are property owners appearing in 2 or more distinct cases.

Serial distressed properties in Brunswick County

Of 410 unique properties in court filings, 45 (11.0%) have multiple filings (averaging 2.5 filings per property). Average time between repeat filings: 3 months. Lien properties have the highest repeat rate at 12.5%.

Serial distress rate by case type

Analysis based on 410 unique property addresses across court filings. Serial distressed properties have 2 or more distinct case filings at the same address.

Methodology and data sources

• Court filings are collected directly from Brunswick County court records, which are public information.
• This dataset is the court-filing archive as collected from the county docket. The owner-of-record match and the entity-owner screen are applied to delivered leads, not to these filing counts.
• Property value figures come from third-party enrichment (24% coverage on this dataset).
• Individual case data, defendant names, and property addresses are not published. Reports show aggregated statistics only.
• The methodology page at /reports/methodology documents data sources, sample sizes, and known limitations in detail.
• This report was generated 2026-08-03 from the live database. Numbers reflect the dataset at that moment.

Related North Carolina guides

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