Full Breakdown
Foreclosure Filings Rise Across the United States
7/25/2026, 1:29:57 PM
Nationwide Surge in Filings
Foreclosure filings have climbed sharply in recent years. According to an ABC News analysis of Attom data, filings increased 71 % between 2020 and 2025. The Daily Beast notes a 21 % rise in the first six months of 2026 compared with the prior year, also citing ABC News. Both figures are well below the 2008 peak, when 2.9 million foreclosures occurred in a single year, but experts warn that higher mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance costs and the loss of pandemic-era protections are fueling the uptick.
State Rankings and Disparities
State-level data show Florida leading with the highest average number of foreclosures per ZIP code since the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, South Carolina, Illinois, California, Maryland, Ohio and Arizona. In Texas, ZIP 77327 in rural Liberty County recorded the nation’s highest six-year total—8,189 foreclosures. ABC News analysis further reveals that majority-non-white ZIP codes experience more than three times the national average of annual foreclosures, indicating a disproportionate impact on communities of color.
Household Impact
Emily Arner, an Arizona resident, purchased a home in Chandler in early 2022. After her husband lost his job in 2025, the family could not meet the mortgage and lost the house to foreclosure in September 2025, subsequently moving to a nearby rental. Arner’s experience illustrates how sudden income loss can jeopardize homeownership even for recent buyers.
Official Statements & Responses
Jacob Inwald, director of litigation for economic justice at Legal Services NYC, emphasized that “if there are economic stresses on a household, people have to make decisions” and warned that the crisis Inwald added that “in some respects, that same foreclosure crisis is still going on.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “If there are economic stresses on a household, people have to make decisions,” — Jacob Inwald, director of litigation for economic justice at Legal Services NYC
- “We are talking about a crisis that disproportionately impacts communities of color and the elderly because those are the communities that were targeted for bad loans in the first place," Inwald said.” — Jacob Inwald, director of litigation for economic justice at Legal Services NYC
- “In some respects, that same foreclosure crisis is still going on," Inwald said.” — Jacob Inwald, director of litigation for economic justice at Legal Services NYC
- “We just immediately fell in love with it,” — Emily Arner, arizona resident
- “It just was a tough situation to feel like such a failure, and to feel like we had just done everything wrong, and it helped me to be able to share that, and to say it's OK to feel this way," Arner said.” — Emily Arner, arizona resident
