Foreclosure Starts Up 12 Percent from a Year Ago; Completed Foreclosures (REOs) Increase 42 Percent Annually
IRVINE, Calif. — May 14, 2026 —ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its April 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 42,430 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings— default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — down 8 percent from a month ago and up 18 percent from a year ago.
“Foreclosure activity continued its gradual trend higher in April, with both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures posting annual gains,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “While overall filings declined from the previous month, the year-over-year increases suggest lenders may be working through distressed inventory as higher borrowing costs and affordability challenges impact some homeowners. Even so, foreclosure activity remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels.”
Nation’s worst foreclosure rates in Delaware, South Carolina, and Florida
One in every 3,388 housing units nationwide had a foreclosure filing in April 2026. Delaware posted the nation’s worst foreclosure rate at one in every 1,739 housing units with a foreclosure filing. South Carolina followed closely behind (one in every 1,745 housing units), followed by Florida (one in every 2,092 housing units), Indiana (one in every 2,129 housing units), and Illinois (one in every 2,262 housing units).
Among metro areas with populations of 500,000 or more, Lakeland, Fl recorded the worst foreclosure rate in April 2026, with one filing for every 1,221 housing units. Following Lakeland were Columbia, SC (one in every 1,287); Charleston, SC (one in every 1,483); Bakersfield, CA (one in every 1,566); and Cape Coral, FL (one in every 1,628 housing units).
Florida, Texas, and California led nation in foreclosure starts
In April 2026, lenders started the foreclosure process on 28,414 U.S. properties, down 6 percent from the previous month but up 12 percent from a year ago.
States with the highest number of foreclosure starts in April 2026 were Florida (3,505 foreclosure starts); Texas (3,154 foreclosure starts); California (2,786 foreclosure starts); Georgia (1,407 foreclosure starts); and Illinois (1,366 foreclosure starts).
Among major metropolitan areas with a population of at least 500,000 and a minimum of 100 foreclosure starts, the following saw the largest year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts in April 2026: Pittsburgh, PA (increase from 82 foreclosure starts in April 2025 to 215 in April 2026); Austin, TX (increase from 158 to 396 foreclosure starts); Raleigh, NC (increase from 68 to 146 foreclosure starts); Lakeland, FL (increase from 99 to 199 foreclosure starts); and Akron, OH (increase from 60 to 117 foreclosure starts).
Completed foreclosures continue to rise annually
In April 2026, Lenders repossessed 5,098 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs), down 3 percent from the previous month but up 42 percent from a year ago.
States with the highest number of REOs in April 2026 were Texas (640 REOs); California (515 REOs); Florida (381 REOs); Pennsylvania (346 REOs); and Illinois (340 REOs).
Contrary to the national trend, those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 200,00 and at least 10 REO’s that saw the greatest annual decline in the number of REOs in April 2026 included: Atlanta, GA (decrease from 213 REO’s in April 2025 to 52 in April 2026); Kansas City, MO (decrease from 30 to 10 REO’s); Flint, MI (decrease from 24 to 11 REO’s); Macon, GA (decrease from 26 to 14 REO’s); and Cleveland, OH (decrease from 38 to 24 REO’s).
Key highlights from the April 2026 foreclosure data
ATTOM’s April 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows 42,430 U.S. properties with a foreclosure filing, down 8 percent from March but up 18 percent from a year ago, continuing a year-long trend of annual increases in foreclosure activity. Foreclosure starts rose 12 percent year over year to 28,414, while completed foreclosures (REOs) increased 42 percent annually to 5,098. Even with annual increases in foreclosure filings, foreclosure activity remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels.
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Report methodology
The ATTOM U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the ATTOM Data Warehouse during the month and quarter. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the quarter may have been recorded in the previous quarter. Data is collected from more than 3,000 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 99 percent of the U.S. population. ATTOM’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). For the annual, midyear and quarterly reports, if more than one type of foreclosure document is received for a property during the timeframe, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The annual, midyear, quarterly and monthly reports all check if the same type of document was filed against a property previously. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state where the property is located, the report does not count the property in the current year, quarter or month.
About ATTOM
ATTOM delivers AI-driven property intelligence built on one of the nation's most trusted property data assets, covering 160 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced real estate data spans property tax, deeds, mortgages, foreclosure, environmental risk, property conditions, natural hazards, neighborhood insights, and geospatial boundaries, rigorously validated for advanced analytics. ATTOM supports analytics and AI-driven applications through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, market trend products, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data—enabling organizations to automate analysis and scale property intelligence across industries.
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