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For most of the past few years, foreclosure rates stayed quiet across the U.S. The moratoriums and mortgage assistance programs of the pandemic era held back a wave of defaults that might otherwise have crested, and many homeowners who would have struggled found temporary relief. That cushion has eroded. Foreclosure filings have climbed for several consecutive quarters, and the year-over-year jumps in the first quarter of 2026 are large enough that they can no longer be dismissed as a return to seasonal norms.
The acceleration is not confined to states that have historically carried the highest foreclosure burdens. Some of the steepest year-over-year increases are showing up in states where filings were already low. The trend reflects something broader than a regional correction. More than 118,000 properties nationwide carried a foreclosure filing in Q1 2026, up 26% from the same period a year earlier. Bank repossessions — the final stage of that process — rose 45% year over year nationally, and foreclosure starts climbed 20%. Neither figure fits the expected pattern of a market simply returning to equilibrium. For homeowners in the states below, the numbers are moving in a direction that is hard to attribute to anything temporary. Foreclosure starts rose 20% year over year, and bank repossessions climbed 45%. Both numbers exceed the national 12-month norm.
