Liens against properties governed by homeowners associations jumped in 2025, with more than half of all HOA liens concentrated in just five states, a recently published analysis reveals.
HOA lien filings rose to 284,933 last year, according to title agency data provider Benutech, up 8.6% from 2024 levels of 262,446. HOA liens typically occur when owners of homes in HOA-governed communities fall behind on assessments or fees, often leading to foreclosure.
“The pace and volume of filings tracked in this data suggest a deepening financial strain on American homeowners,” reads the Benutech report, underscoring multiple years of surging HOA dues, assessments and insurance costs.
Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Arizona together accounted for more than half of all HOA liens filed across the U.S. in 2025. Louisiana posted the largest annual increase, with 6,541 filings in 2025 compared to 2,345 the year before, a nearly 179% increase.
Ten states recorded fewer HOA liens in 2025 than in 2024, including Wisconsin, Wyoming, New York, Missouri, New Mexico, Iowa, Hawaii, Ohio, Illinois and Georgia.
The share of single-family homes in HOAs has risen quickly in recent years, from 25% in 2019 to 33% in 2025, according to National Association of Home Builders data. The share of existing-home listings belonging to HOAs was about 39% in 2025, and around 68% for new-home listings.
Roughly 60% of new homes built since 2017 have belonged to community associations, while townhouse construction grew to around 18% of all new homes in 2025. HOA lien increases were concentrated “particularly in Sun Belt markets that boomed in the post-pandemic years,” but Benutech noted that regional increases reflect different fundamentals.
In Colorado, for example, HOA liens climbed 74% to 7,679 last year, up from 4,413 in 2024, though in a manner that may “point to something more acute,” with growth bucking seasonal patterns and accelerating throughout the year.
HOA lien volume grew nearly 30% over the year in Maryland, from 12,432 in 2024 to 16,123 last year. But Maryland’s increase did not spike like Louisiana’s, instead unfolding with steady monthly growth to reveal “a story of financial pressure on established, middle-class neighborhoods,” given the state’s “relatively high concentration of older HOA-governed communities in the Baltimore and Washington suburbs.”
The Benutech analysis offered less clarity on the surge in Louisiana, where HOA liens almost tripled from 2,345 in 2024 to 6,541 in 2025, concentrated in the second half of the year. November, for example, recorded 2,062 liens, compared to just 267 a year earlier, emblematic of an “extraordinary shift that warrants close scrutiny.”
