Sussex County, New Jersey Court Filings Intelligence

• Filing volume holding steady (+0.0%) — last 2 complete months (30 filings) vs prior 2 complete months (30 filings). Excludes the current calendar month (in progress).
• 100.0% of filings are Pre-Foreclosure — the dominant lead category in Sussex County during the observed window.

About Sussex County

Sussex County is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton. It is part of the New York metropolitan area and is part of New Jersey's Skylands Region. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 17th-most-populous county, with a population of 144,221, a decrease of 5,044 (−3.4%) from the 2010 census count of 149,265, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,099 (+3.5%) over the 144,166 persons at the 2000 census. The United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program estimated a 2025 population of 148,063, an increase of 3,842 (+2.7%) from

Source: Wikipedia

At a glance

Filing type breakdown

Each row is a distinct case verified for current owner-of-record before inclusion.

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 0 ZIPs in Sussex County account for 0.0% of all tracked filings, showing where distressed real estate activity clusters.

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

Property value distribution

Source: third-party property enrichment (0% coverage on Sussex County filings). Median $n/a; mean $n/a.

Day-of-week filing pattern

Filings cluster Monday through Friday, with weekend filings essentially absent (court system closed). Computed for 606 filings with a parseable date.

Housing stock + distress signals

Underlying housing stock and distress indicators across all 62825 Sussex 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. Sussex County sits within the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ. 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 Sussex 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

Sussex County filings should be read against the broader housing-market backdrop. New Jersey 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 NJSTHPI); 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 Aug and are lowest in Jan. Filing volume is relatively steady year-round.

Average filings per calendar month across all observed years. Relative column shows each month as a percentage of the peak month (Aug), with a 1.5x peak-to-trough ratio.

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

Market Absorption & Turnover Analysis

606 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 606 active cases.

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 606 total filings.

Case Aging & Stall Analysis

444 cases (73.3%) have been active for over a year without resolution. 15 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.

Municipality filing concentration in Sussex County

Court filings in Sussex County span 39 municipalities. Vernon leads with 102 filings (16.8% of total), predominantly Pre-Foreclosure (100.0%). Filings show moderate geographic spread — the top 3 municipalities account for 36% of filings.

Top 15 of 39 municipalities with court filings. Data from 606 filings (100% of total). Municipality names from county assessor records.

Quarterly Filing Volume Trends

Filing trends across 14 comparable quarters show 561 tracked filings in Sussex County. Most recent quarter (2026 Q2: 38) was rising vs prior (2026 Q1: 28, +35.7%).

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

Repeat litigation patterns in Sussex County

Of 593 unique property owners in court filings, 13 (2.2%) appear in multiple cases. The most active repeat filer has 2 cases spanning 16 months.

Repeat rate by case type

Analysis based on 593 unique owner names across court filings. Repeat filers are property owners appearing in 2 or more distinct cases.

Serial distressed properties in Sussex County

Of 593 unique properties in court filings, 12 (2.0%) have multiple filings (averaging 2.1 filings per property). Average time between repeat filings: 19 months.

Serial distress rate by case type

Analysis based on 593 unique property addresses across court filings. Serial distressed properties have 2 or more distinct case filings at the same address.

Why these filings are invisible on most public foreclosure sites

The largest public foreclosure-aggregator interfaces surface only post-auction bank-owned properties in New Jersey. Pre-foreclosure court filings are not visible to their non-paying users. Keystone tracks the court filing the day it hits the docket, weeks or months before any property reaches the auction stage those aggregators surface.

Methodology and full audit: Court-vs-aggregator coverage gap report.

Methodology and data sources

• Court filings are collected directly from Sussex County court records, which are public information.
• Every filing in this dataset has been verified for current owner-of-record. Entity-owned filings (LLCs, trusts, banks) and properties where the named party is not the current owner are excluded.
• Property value figures come from third-party enrichment (0% 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 2026-07-21 from the live database. Numbers reflect the dataset at that moment.

Related New Jersey guides

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