Foreclosure inventory rates throughout the U.S. have reached a six-year high, rising to 0.4% in March, according to data released Thursday by Cotality. It was the first overall rate increase in 15 months.

Along with the rate jump, Cotality reported a 3% share of mortgages in some stage of delinquency, an increase of 20 basis points from March 2025.  

Molly Boesel, senior principal economist at Cotality, commented in a press release that the increase was not geographically isolated, noting that 77% of U.S. metropolitan areas “are now experiencing increases in foreclosure rates, signaling that the trend is broad-based rather than concentrated in a few markets.”

The widening foreclosure trend is “markedly higher than in December 2025, when just under half of metros had increases in their foreclosure rate,” Boesel stated.

She pointed out parts of Florida and Texas as examples of the rise in foreclosure activity aligning with earlier increases in serious delinquencies, suggesting that “once borrowers fall behind, it is becoming more difficult to recover.”

Forty states experienced year-over-year overall delinquency rate increases, led by 50-basis-point increases in Mississippi and Georgia.

“While overall mortgage performance remains relatively stable, the growing number of metros with rising foreclosure rates points to emerging pressure in pockets of the housing market that warrants close monitoring,” Boesel noted.

Cotality also looked at March statistics for loan performance in four different stages of delinquency and transition rates:

• Early-stage delinquencies (loans 30 to 59 days past due) had a 1.5% delinquency rate, an increase from 1.4% in March 2025.
• Adverse delinquencies (60 to 89 days) were unchanged from March 2025 at a 0.4% rate.
• Loans in serious delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure) were seen at a 1.2% rate, an increase from 1% in March 2025.
• The transition rate (mortgages that moved from current to 30 days past due) was 0.6%, unchanged from March 2025.