ATTOM: Foreclosure Activity Increased in 2025

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ATTOM, Irvine, Calif., found that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 367,460 U.S. properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024 and up 3% from 2023.

The firm’s year-end 2025 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report said foreclosure filings in 2025 were also down 87% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010.

Those 367,460 properties with foreclosure filings in 2025 represented 0.26% of all U.S. housing units, up slightly from 0.23% in 2024 and down from 0.36% in 2019 and down from a peak of 2.23% in 2010.

ATTOM CEO Rob Barber noted the foreclosure activity trend reflects 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.”

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 289,441 U.S. properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024, up 213% from the pandemic-era low in 2021, but down 14% form 2019 and down 86% from a peak of 2,139,005 in 2009.

Donna Schmidt, managing director of DLS Servicing, Grand Rapids, Mich., said she expects a steep increase in FHA foreclosure referrals in the second and third quarters, “as new FHA loss mitigation restrictions, which finally ended the loss mitigation hamster wheel, mean more loans will finally be moved to foreclosure. There is at least five years of inventory that needs to work through the system in a condensed time frame.”

States that saw the greatest number of foreclosure starts last year included Texas (37,215 foreclosure starts), Florida (34,336 foreclosure starts), California (29,777 foreclosure starts), Illinois (15,010 foreclosure starts) and New York (13,664 foreclosure starts).

Lenders repossessed 46,439 properties through foreclosures (REO) in 2025, up 27% from 2024 but down 68% from 143,955 in 2019, the last full year before pandemic-related declines, and down 96% from a peak of 1,050,500 in 2010.

ATTOM said states with the longest average time to foreclose in the fourth quarter of 2025 were Louisiana (3,461 days), New York (1,998 days), Hawaii (1,760 days), Connecticut (1,600 days) and Kansas (1,594 days).