February data showed another step up in foreclosures, but not a 2008-style crisis
US foreclosure activity continued to edge higher in February, suggesting more borrowers were feeling the strain of elevated housing costs. Even so, overall mortgage performance remained relatively strong compared with historical norms.
ATTOM reported that 38,840 properties carried a foreclosure filing in February 2026, down 4% from January but up 20% year over year. That's the twelfth straight month of annual increases.
The firm’s data also showed 25,928 foreclosure starts, which is 14% higher than a year earlier, and 4,077 completed repossessions, up 35% annually.
Indiana, South Carolina and Florida posted the highest state foreclosure rates, with Indiana seeing one filing for every 1,597 housing units.
At the metro level, Lakeland, Florida recorded one foreclosure filing for every 1,075 homes, ahead of other hotspots including Punta Gorda and Indianapolis.
Normalization or early warning sign
“Foreclosure activity in February marked the twelfth consecutive month of annual increases, extending a gradual upward trend that began early last year,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said.
“While filings dipped slightly from January, both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures remain higher than a year ago. Even with the continued rise, overall foreclosure levels remain well below historic norms.”
Barber already framed the shift as a slow turn in ATTOM’s year-end 2025 foreclosure report, noting that “foreclosure activity increased in 2025, reflecting a continued normalization of the housing market following several years of historically low levels,” and that filings still sat far below pre-crisis peaks.
“In 2025, we’ve seen a consistent pattern of foreclosure activity trending higher, with both starts and completions posting year-over-year increases for consecutive quarters,” Barber previously said.
“While these figures remain within a historically reasonable range, the persistence of this trend could be an early indicator of emerging borrower strain in some areas.”
Regional hotspots and the wider credit picture
The latest numbers followed a late-2025 pickup in filings nationally, when ATTOM data showed a 14% annual jump in foreclosure activity and a fourth-quarter acceleration in starts and repossessions. Yet that full-year foreclosure total still represented a fraction of 2010 crisis-era volumes, and a small share of the US housing stock.
Other indicators pointed to a market that has been tightening, not cracking. Mortgage Bankers Association figures showed overall delinquency rates edging up in late 2025 but remaining near or below long-run averages.
What it meant for lenders and servicers
Even so, February’s map of hotspots - from Indiana and South Carolina to pockets of Florida and the Midwest - underscore how stress has been concentrating in specific states and metros rather than evenly across the country.
Servicers and investors faced a landscape where higher-frequency delinquencies and localized shocks could feed into a continued grind higher in filings, even if national metrics remain far from crisis.
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