Foreclosure activity is rising across America, but the numbers do not indicate anything like a crisis.
Foreclosure activity is creeping higher.
A subtle but noteworthy shift is underway, as foreclosure activity moves higher from the unprecedented lows of the pandemic era.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,460 U.S. properties in 2025, representing a 14% increase from 2024, according to ATTOM’s Year-End 2025 Foreclosure Market Report.
While the word “foreclosure” still carries echoes of the 2008 financial crisis, today’s landscape tells a fundamentally different story — one of normalization rather than distress.
Context matters enormously here. These numbers remain down 25% from 2019 levels and a staggering 87% below the 2010 peak of nearly 2.9 million filings.
In other words, while foreclosures are rising, they’re returning to something resembling pre-pandemic normalcy rather than signaling a crisis.
In a summary of ATTOM’s findings, Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, says:
“The data suggests that today’s uptick is being driven more by market recalibration than widespread homeowner distress, with strong equity positions and more disciplined lending continuing to limit risk.”
This is a crucial distinction. Homeowners today generally hold substantial equity in their properties, a stark contrast to the underwater mortgages that defined the last housing crisis.
Perhaps most telling is that properties with foreclosure filings in 2025 represented just 0.26% of all U.S. homes, a modest uptick from 0.23% in 2024 but nowhere near the 2.23% peak witnessed in 2010.
Here are the top 10 states with the most foreclosures as of the fourth quarter of 2026:
- Florida (1 in every 230 housing units)
- Delaware (1 in every 240 housing units)
- South Carolina (1 in every 242 housing units)
- Illinois (1 in every 248 housing units)
- Nevada (1 in every 248 housing units)
- New Jersey (1 in every 273 housing units)
- Indiana (1 in every 302 housing units)
- Ohio (1 in every 307 housing units)
- Texas (1 in every 319 housing units)
- Maryland (1 in every 326 housing units)
Here are the top five metros with populations of at least 200,000 that have the most foreclosures:
- Lakeland, FL (1 in every 145 housing units)
- Columbia, SC (1 in every 165 housing units)
- Cleveland, OH (1 in every 187 housing units)
- Cape Coral, FL (1 in every 189 housing units)
- Atlantic City, NJ (1 in every 192 housing units)
Here are the top five metros with populations of at least 1 million that have the most foreclosures:
- Cleveland, OH (1 in every 187 housing units)
- Jacksonville, FL (1 in every 200 housing units)
- Las Vegas, NV (1 in every 210 housing units)
- Chicago, IL (1 in every 214 housing units)
- Orlando, FL (1 in every 217 housing units)
It’s no surprise that Florida ranks No. 1 and has more metro areas on these lists than any other state. Homeowners in the Sunshine State have been hit hard financially in recent months, with large recurring costs like insurance seeing steeper hikes here than in other parts of the nation. To learn more, check out “The Florida Retirement Trap: 5 Reasons the Middle Class Is Being Pushed Out of the Sunshine State.”
And the trend is expected to get worse – thanks, Don.