A slight monthly dip in filings contrasts with a notable annual increase
ATTOM’s US Foreclosure Market Report for May 2025 recorded 35,498 properties with foreclosure filings. This represents a 1% decline from April 2025 but a 9% rise compared to May 2024.
Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. “Foreclosure activity in May reflected a mixed picture with fewer starts but a continued rise in completed foreclosures,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “This suggests that while fewer new defaults are being initiated, lenders may still be working through a backlog of existing cases. We’ll be watching closely in the months ahead to see how these trends evolve.”
The national foreclosure rate in May 2025 stood at one filing for every 4,009 housing units. States with the highest rates included Delaware (one in every 2,313 units), Florida (one in every 2,536), Illinois (one in every 2,668), Nevada (one in every 2,747), and Indiana (one in every 2,983).
Among metropolitan areas with at least 500,000 residents, the highest foreclosure rates were found in Lakeland, Florida (one in every 1,506 housing units), Cape Coral, Florida (one in every 1,674), Jacksonville, Florida (one in every 1,888), Bakersfield, California (one in every 1,990), and Riverside, California (one in every 2,031).
For metropolitan areas with more than 1 million residents, the cities with the highest foreclosure rates included Jacksonville, Florida; Riverside, California; Cleveland, Ohio (one in every 2,064), San Antonio, Texas (one in every 2,202), and Chicago, Illinois (one in every 2,203).
Foreclosure starts were initiated on 24,165 properties, down 4% from April but up 8% year over year. Texas led with 3,077 foreclosure starts, followed by Florida (2,780), California (2,641), Illinois (1,242), and New York (1,222). Major cities with the most foreclosure starts included New York (1,174), Chicago (1,084), Houston (1,017), Los Angeles (782), and Miami (740).
Lenders repossessed 3,844 properties in May 2025 through completed foreclosures, known as real estate owned (REO) actions. This marked a 7% monthly increase and a 34% annual rise. Texas reported the highest number of REOs (460), followed by California (300), Pennsylvania (257), Michigan (236), and Florida (234).
Among large cities, Chicago recorded the most REOs (305), with New York (119), Houston (114), Detroit (102), and Dallas (97) also seeing high numbers.
ATTOM gathers its data from more than 3,000 counties covering over 99% of the US population, tracking foreclosure filings across all three major phases: default, auction, and bank repossession.
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