Foreclosure auctions, up 25% in the past year, hit a post-pandemic peak

Completed foreclosure auctions rose 25% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, the seventh consecutive quarter of annualize volume gains and the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2020, according to Auction.com‘s Q3 2026 Auction Market Dispatch. Loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) accounted for most of the increase. FHA foreclosure auction volume rose 73% year over year and crossed its pre-pandemic baseline for the first time in this cycle, reaching 117% of first-quarter 2020 levels — the highest since the first quarter of 2019. FHA-insured mortgages accounted for 43% of all foreclosure auction volume, the highest share since Q1 2015. Mortgages originated in 2022 or later represented 46% of all foreclosure auction activity in the third quarter, as an early wave of higher-rate, post-pandemic originations moves through the default pipeline. Volume for these recent-vintage loans increased 73% from a year ago. Real estate-owned (REO) auction volume rose 18% from a year ago, the seventh consecutive quarterly increase, reaching the highest level since the third quarter of 2020 and 51% of the pre-pandemic level. Scheduled foreclosure auction vol...