Foreclosure filings continued to decline in 2024, marking a 10 percent decrease from the previous year and signaling a stabilizing housing market.
According to property data curator ATTOM's Year-End 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, 322,103 properties reported foreclosure activity last year, down 1 percent from 2022 and 35 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
“The continued decline in foreclosure activity throughout 2024 suggests a housing market that may be stabilizing, even as economic uncertainties persist,” Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM, said in a release. “This year’s data points to foreclosure trends potentially returning to more predictable levels, offering clarity for industry professionals, investors, and homeowners.”
The 322,103 properties with foreclosure filings in 2024 represented 0.23 percent of all U.S. housing units, a slight decrease from 0.25 percent in 2023 and 0.36 percent in 2019. This marked a significant improvement from the peak foreclosure rate of 2.23 percent in 2010.
December 2024 also showed a decline, with 28,632 properties reporting foreclosure filings, down 3 percent from the previous month and 6 percent year-over-year.
In 2024, lenders initiated foreclosure proceedings on 253,306 properties, a 6 percent decrease from 2023. However, foreclosure starts were up 174 percent compared to 2021, reflecting lingering recovery from pandemic-era disruptions. The starts were still down 25 percent from 2019 and 88 percent from the 2009 peak of over 2.1 million starts, according to ATTOM.
California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois led the nation in foreclosure starts, with California reporting the most at 29,529.
Lenders repossessed 36,505 properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in 2024, a 13 percent drop from the previous year and a staggering 97 percent reduction from the peak of 1,050,500 in 2010.
California again led the nation with 3,466 REOs, followed by Illinois (2,858), Pennsylvania (2,828), Michigan (2,629), and Texas (2,501).
Florida, New Jersey, and Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rates in 2024, with one in every 267 housing units reporting foreclosure filings in Florida and New Jersey, and one in every 273 in Nevada.
Among metro areas, Lakeland, Fla., Atlantic City, N.J., and Columbia, S.C., had the highest foreclosure rates. Lakeland reported one in every 172 housing units with a foreclosure filing.
In metro areas with populations over 1 million, Orlando, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., Chicago, and Miami topped the list for the highest foreclosure rates.
The average time to complete a foreclosure in Q4 2024 was 762 days, a 6 percent decrease from the previous quarter but a 6 percent increase year-over-year. Louisiana had the longest average foreclosure timeline at 3,015 days, followed by Hawaii, New York, Wisconsin, and Nevada.
December 2024 foreclosure takeaways:
- Nationwide, one in every 4,922 properties reported foreclosure filings in December 2024.
- States with the highest foreclosure rates included Nevada, Indiana, Maryland, Utah, and New Jersey.
- Lenders started foreclosure proceedings on 19,376 properties in December, down 4 percent from November and 5 percent year-over-year.
- Lenders completed the foreclosure process on 2,957 properties, a 16 percent decrease from the previous year.