Nationwide Foreclosure Starts Rise In 2025

Key 2025 numbers

• Lenders started the foreclosure process on about 289,000 U.S. properties in 2025, an increase of roughly 14% compared with 2024.​

• That 2025 total is about 213% higher than the pandemic‑era low in 2021, but still around 14% below 2019 and roughly 86% below the 2009 peak during the last housing crisis.​

Trend during 2025

• In Q3 2025, about 72,300 properties entered foreclosure, up about 16% year over year and 2% from Q2, confirming a steady nationwide uptick in starts.​

• December 2025 alone saw about 28,300 new foreclosure starts, up 19% from November and 46% from December 2024, indicating momentum late in the year.​

Context and risk

• Overall foreclosure filings (starts plus other stages) reached roughly 367,000 properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024 but still about 25% below 2019 and far under crisis‑era peaks.​

• Analysts attribute the increase mainly to a normalization after several artificially low years, with strong homeowner equity and tighter underwriting still limiting widespread distress, though persistent increases could signal emerging strain in some areas.​