Foreclosure starts and completions increased during 2025 compared to previous years but remained at historically low levels compared to pre-pandemic averages.
Foreclosure filings including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions affected 367,460 U.S. properties last year, a 14% rise from 2024 and a 3% rise from 2023, but 25% lower than 2019, data released Thursday by real estate analytics firm Attom reveals.
Just 0.26% of all U.S. housing units had foreclosure filings last year, compared to 0.36% in 2019 and 2.23% in 2010 in the aftermath of the 2008-financial crisis, according to Attom.
“The data suggests that today’s uptick is being driven more by market recalibration than widespread homeowner distress,” said Rob Barber, CEO of Attom, in a statement accompanying the data, “with strong equity positions and more disciplined lending continuing to limit risk.”
That disciplined lending showed in a recent update to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s mortgage credit availability index, which measures the difficulty for average borrowers to qualify for a mortgage based on lenders’ underwriting standards and the loan programs they offer.
Mortgage credit availability fell to its lowest level in three months in December as lenders reduced loan programs and tightened documentation requirements. The conforming component index, which represents lending supported by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, declined to its lowest levels since the inception of the index in 2011.
Attom’s year-end report also included new foreclosure activity data for December, registering a 26% monthly uptick in properties with foreclosure filings, which is 57% higher than a year ago.
States that observed the largest number of foreclosure starts in 2025 were Texas (37,215), Florida (34,336), California (29,777), Illinois (15,010) and New York (13,664).
Metro areas with populations exceeding 1 million people that observed the largest number of foreclosure starts in 2025 were New York (14,189), Chicago (13,312), Houston (13,009), Miami (8,936) and Los Angeles (8,503).
As a share of housing units, Florida, Delaware, South Carolina, Illinois and Nevada posted the worst foreclosure rates in 2025. At the metro level, Lakeland, Fla; Columbia, S.C.; Cleveland; Cape Coral, Fla; and Atlantic City, N.J., had the worst foreclosure rates.
Bank repossessions through completed foreclosures (REOs) also rose in 2025, with the 46,439 properties in REO status up 27% from 2024 but down 68% from 143,955 in 2019. A peak of 1,050,500 REOs occurred in 2010.
