Map shows states where foreclosures soaring

Foreclosure activity surged across much of the U.S. in 2025, with several states pulling up the nationwide average to post-pandemic highs.

According to the latest Foreclosure Market Report from the real estate analytics firm ATTOM, foreclosure filings totaled 367,460 in 2025, up 14 percent from the year prior and the highest level since 2019.

Why It Matters

The figure, which incorporates default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, also sits three percent higher than in 2023, but remains well below pre-Covid historical averages. Experts have also noted that foreclosure rates currently pale in comparison to levels seen during the housing crisis, but the increase comes amid broader signs of financial stress across the economy, including mounting debts, slow jobs growth and surveys revealing pessimism among Americans about their fiscal future.

What To Know

According to ATTOM’s analysis of filings throughout 2025, the nationwide foreclosure rate—the share of total housing units—reached 0.26 percent last year, up from 0.23 percent in 2024. The tail end of 2025 saw a significant acceleration which helped increase the annual total, with 44,990 properties with foreclosure filings—up 26 percent from November and 57 percent year over year.

Florida had the highest foreclosure rate of any state last year, with filings on 0.44 percent of all residential properties—up from 0.37 percent last year and equating to one in every 230 housing units. Delaware came in second at 0.42 percent, followed by South Carolina and Illinois at 0.41 and 0.4 percent, respectively.

The map below, based on ATTOM’s data and Realtor.com analysis, shows the top ten states with the highest foreclosure rates in 2025.

Florida’s embattled housing sector also contained many of the most troubled metro areas in 2025, with Lakeland (0.69 percent), Cape Coral (0.53 percent), Jacksonville (0.5 percent) and Orlando (0.46 percent) recording foreclosure rates more than double the nationwide rate.

“Florida leads the nation in filings, as homeowners there face heightened affordability pressures from rising insurance premiums, property taxes, and overall ownership costs,” Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones wrote in response to ATTOM’s report.

“Growing home supply has softened demand in parts of the state, contributing to slower price growth and longer time on market,” she added. “Together, these dynamics increase the risk of foreclosure for some homeowners, particularly those who bought near the peak of the market or are carrying higher monthly costs.”

On the other end, states like South Dakota helped lower the nationwide average in 2025, its foreclosure rate reaching only 0.03 percent of all housing units.

And, as ATTOM noted, the total of 367,460 filings in 2025 represents a “fraction” of the figures seen during the housing crisis, and sits well below levels recorded prior to the pandemic. Foreclosure filings reached 493,066 in 2019, after steadily trending down from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010.

What People Are Saying

ATTOM CEO Rob Barber wrote in the report: “Foreclosure activity increased in 2025, reflecting a continued normalization of the housing market following several years of historically low levels. While filings, starts, and repossessions all rose compared to 2024, foreclosure activity remains well below pre-pandemic norms and a fraction of what we saw during the last housing crisis. The data suggests that today’s uptick is being driven more by market recalibration than widespread homeowner distress, with strong equity positions and more disciplined lending continuing to limit risk.”

Adam Guren, associate professor of economics at Boston University, previously told Newsweek: “Over the last several years, foreclosures have looked like a relatively flat line with a small blip up in the last few months that is dwarfed by the valleys we saw in 2003-2005 and in the pandemic, and the peak we saw in 2006-2013.”

What Happens Next

Experts say the uptick witnessed in 2025 does not yet signal a concerning trend for homeowners in the U.S. Fernando Ferreira, professor of real estate, business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told Newsweek in November that a deterioration in the labor market could herald an increase in 2026, but that this “will not be comparable to the catastrophic foreclosure crisis of the Great Recession.”