2025 home foreclosures up 14% compared to 2024

U.S. home foreclosure activity did rise about 14% in 2025 compared with 2024, but levels are still well below the last housing crisis and even pre‑pandemic norms.​

What the 14% rise means

• ATTOM’s Year‑End 2025 Foreclosure Market Report shows 367,460 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing in 2025, up 14% from 2024 and about 3% from 2023.​

• These filings represented roughly 0.26% of all U.S. housing units, and activity remains about 25% below 2019 levels and far under the peak near 2.9 million in 2010.​

Starts vs. total filings

• Lenders started foreclosure on roughly 289,441 properties in 2025, which is also a 14% increase from 2024 and more than double the pandemic low in 2021.​

• Even so, foreclosure starts are still down about 14% versus 2019 and down more than 80% compared with the peak year of 2009.​

How serious is this?

• Analysts describe the rise as a “normalization” after unusually low activity, driven more by market recalibration than by widespread distress, helped by strong homeowner equity and tighter underwriting.​

• Foreclosure activity did accelerate toward the end of 2025, with Q4 and December both showing double‑digit year‑over‑year increases, so trends in 2026 bear watching if economic conditions worsen.​

The biggest 2025 foreclosure problems showed up in Florida, Delaware, South Carolina, Illinois, and Nevada, which had both high rates and notable increases versus 2024.​

States with largest jumps

• Florida’s foreclosure rate rose to about 0.44% of housing units in 2025 (roughly 1 in 230 homes), the highest in the country and up from around 0.37% in 2024.​

• Delaware and South Carolina also saw sharp increases, ending 2025 with roughly 0.42% and 0.41% of homes having a foreclosure filing, putting them just behind Florida.​

High‑risk but not biggest states

• Illinois and Nevada recorded foreclosure rates near 0.40% and 0.40–0.41% respectively (about 1 in 248 homes), among the steepest rises relative to their size.​

• These states consistently appeared on 2025 “worst foreclosure rate” lists, including quarterly and monthly breakdowns, indicating persistent rather than one‑off spikes.​

Where most foreclosures started

• By sheer count of new foreclosure starts (not percentage), Texas, Florida, and California led in 2025, with about 37k, 34k, and 30k initiations respectively, followed by Illinois and New York.​

• This reflects their large populations; their rates are elevated but the most acute stress is in smaller states like Delaware and South Carolina where a higher share of owners is affected.