ATTOM is reporting that U.S. foreclosure activity rose again in April as lenders accelerated repossessions and foreclosure starts amid persistent affordability pressures and elevated borrowing costs that continue straining some homeowners despite a still-resilient housing market.
The property-data firm said 42,430 U.S. properties received foreclosure filings in April, including default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. That marked an 18% increase from a year earlier, although filings declined 8% from March.
The data points to a continued normalization in mortgage distress after foreclosure activity remained artificially suppressed for years following pandemic-era relief programs, foreclosure moratoriums, and a prolonged period of historically low borrowing costs.
“Foreclosure activity continued its gradual trend higher in April, with both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures posting annual gains,” ATTOM Chief Executive Officer Rob Barber said.
“While overall filings declined from the previous month, the year-over-year increases suggest lenders may be working through distressed inventory as higher borrowing costs and affordability challenges impact some homeowners,” Barber added.
Lenders initiated foreclosure proceedings on 28,414 properties during April, up 12% from a year earlier.
Completed foreclosures, or real-estate-owned properties repossessed by lenders, climbed 42% annually to 5,098 properties, suggesting banks and mortgage servicers continue processing distressed loans that accumulated during prior periods of reduced foreclosure enforcement.
Texas recorded the highest number of completed foreclosures with 640 repossessions, followed by California with 515 and Florida with 381.
Florida also led the nation in foreclosure starts with 3,505, ahead of Texas and California, while Delaware posted the country’s highest foreclosure rate at one filing per 1,739 housing units.
Among major metropolitan areas, foreclosure starts rose sharply in Pittsburgh, Austin, and Raleigh, reflecting growing pockets of borrower stress even in markets that previously saw strong home-price appreciation and population growth.
ATTOM reported one in every 3,388 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during April.
Some markets diverged from the national trend. Completed foreclosures declined significantly in Atlanta and Cleveland, indicating foreclosure conditions remain uneven across regional housing markets.
Despite the recent increases, foreclosure activity remains substantially below levels seen before the pandemic and far beneath the peaks reached during the 2008 housing crisis, when foreclosure filings routinely exceeded several hundred thousand properties per month.
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