Foreclosure filings continued to rise nationwide in the first quarter of 2026, with total activity up 26% from a year ago.
There were a total of 118,727 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings during the three months of the year—with Indiana, South Carolina, and Florida recording the highest foreclosure rates for the period. The total includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions.
“Foreclosure activity increased in the first quarter, with both starts and completed foreclosures posting solid year-over-year gains,” says Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data.
Foreclosure starts were up 20% from a year ago, while completed foreclosures increased 45%. Still, total foreclosure activity remains roughly in line with pre-pandemic levels, and far below the crisis levels seen in the subprime mortgage collapse of 2007.
Nationwide, 1 in every 1,211 housing units had a foreclosure filing in the first quarter of 2026, according to the firm's latest report.
“While volumes remain below historical peaks, the continued rise, especially in starts and bank repossessions, suggests financial pressure may be building for some homeowners and could signal shifting housing market dynamics," adds Barber.
ATTOM’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: default and notice of default; notice of foreclosure; and real estate-owned or REO properties, defined as properties that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank.
Worst foreclosure states
The state with the worst foreclosure rate in the first quarter of 2026 was Indiana, with 1 in every 739 housing units there showing a foreclosure filing.
In Indiana, the median listing price is $292,500 and homes stay on the market an average of 53 days, according to Realtor.com® data.
"There are a few reasons why Indiana might have the highest rate of foreclosures," says Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner. "The first is that it's a smaller state with fewer housing units, so the data can tend to be a little noisy from quarter to quarter."
The second reason, says Berner, is that home prices are generally lower in Indiana, meaning that homeowners build equity more slowly and have less of a cushion when economic adversity strikes, especially if they're highly leveraged with a relatively large mortgage.
"The third is that the ancillary costs of homeownership—like property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA fees—are growing everywhere, and in lower-priced states like Indiana, those costs make up a larger percentage of the monthly payment and have an outsized impact," says Berner.
Barber, the ATTOM CEO, tells Realtor.com that Indiana’s foreclosure rate ranking may be less about a sudden spike and more about localized affordability pressures, where rising ownership costs can have a greater impact in lower-cost markets.
"It may also reflect how foreclosure rates are measured, as states with more widespread, moderate distress can rank higher even without leading in total volume," he says.
Indiana real estate agent Fred Krawczyk of Fred Krawczyk & Associates—who has done hundreds of short sales—tells Realtor.com: "The main reason I hear for foreclosures in Indiana are death, divorce, job loss, job transfer, medical bills, and business failure. With the cost of groceries and gas going up, cost of living is high. When things start spiraling down, everything keeps piling up on these people, and everybody comes after them. With interest rates and late fees, it's a snowball effect. Unless someone dumps a big pile of money on you, it's hard to get out."
Even though Indiana ranked No. 1 in foreclosure rate, Barber says that current activity still remains well below historical peaks.
"Indiana saw more than 14,000 filings in some quarters during the Great Recession compared to just over 4,000 in Q1 2026, reflecting a similar pattern nationally, where today’s levels are a fraction of peak volumes," he says. "Overall, this suggests a market that is continuing to normalize, where certain regions may be experiencing more concentrated pressure.”
Behind Indiana on the list of states with the highest foreclosure rates are South Carolina (1 in every 743) and Florida (1 in every 750).
South Carolina has a median listing price of $359,940, with homes staying on the market an average of 58 days. Meanwhile, Florida has a median listing price of $425,000, with homes staying on the market an average of 71 days.
"In Florida, foreclosure problems are being driven by the full cost of owning a home, not just the mortgage," says real estate agent and investor Ron Myers, of Ron Buys Florida Homes. "Insurance, property taxes, and HOA fees have all gone up, and many owners just cannot keep up anymore."
Rounding out the top five states for foreclosure rates were Delaware (1 in every 757) and Illinois (1 in every 833).
The median listing price in Delaware is $499,950, with a median time on the market of 51 days. In Illinois, the median listing price is $299,450 and the median time on the market is 39 days.
"The industry trends are manufacturing and tourism for most of these places," says Berner. "When manufacturing jobs go away because of a global trade war and tourism jobs go away because of a domestic economic slowdown, foreclosures happen in states where those jobs are highly concentrated. Also, there are some new-construction darlings in this group—like South Carolina, Florida, and Delaware—so many homeowners may be relatively new into their loans and not have much of an equity cushion if their home loses value."
Metros with the most foreclosures
In terms of metro areas with populations of 200,000 or more, Lakeland, FL, fared the worst in the first quarter of 2026, with 1 filing for every 409 housing units.
In Lakeland, the median listing price is $334,997 and homes stay on the market an average of 73 days.
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Following Lakeland were Punta Gorda, FL (1 in every 416), and Columbia, SC (1 in every 440).
Punta Gorda has a median listing price of $386,975 and a median time on the market of 92 days. In Columbia, the median listing price is $300,000 and the median time on the market is 45 days.
"Punta Gorda has been hit especially hard," says Myers. "I just closed on a property because the homeowner could not keep up with the mortgage and the rising homeowners association dues. The association was threatening foreclosure, and if I hadn't stepped in to help, the homeowners risked losing the property at the county foreclosure auction."
Rounding out the top five were Fayetteville, NC (1 in every 480), and Macon, GA (1 in every 492).
The median listing price is $288,350 in Fayetteville and $234,975 in Macon.
The median time on the market was 57 days in Fayetteville and 66 days in Macon.
"For people living on the margin, once they get behind, it is increasingly difficult for them to get caught up. These people don't attempt to sell because they can't afford to go elsewhere," Georgia real estate professional and attorney Bruce Ailion, of Re/Max Town & Country, tells Realtor.com.
"Eventually, a sale is forced upon them via foreclosure. I see this escalating as energy costs impact every product and service we buy, and I expect inflation to continue to increase."
Julie Taylor is a reporter for Realtor.com. She was most recently a writer and co-executive producer on “The Talk” where she won two Daytime Emmy Awards. A member of the Writers Guild of America, Julie has written for Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Redbook magazines and is the author of six books. Julie earned a B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. After two decades in New York City and Los Angeles, she recently relocated to the Midwest.
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