Residential foreclosure activity drops 10 percent nationwide in 2024

Irvine, California-based Attom, a curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, has released its Year-End 2024 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 322,103 U.S. properties in 2024, down 10 percent from 2023 and down 1 percent from 2022. In 2024, foreclosures were down 35 percent from 2019, before the pandemic shook up the market. Foreclosure filings in 2024 were also down 89 percent from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010, the report found.

Those 322,103 properties with foreclosure filings in 2024 represented 0.23 percent of all U.S. housing units, down slightly from 0.25 percent in 2023, and down from 0.36 percent in 2019 and down from a peak of 2.23 percent in 2010.

“The continued decline in foreclosure activity throughout 2024 suggests a housing market that may be stabilizing, even as economic uncertainties persist,” said Rob Barber, CEO at Attom. “This year’s data points to foreclosure trends potentially returning to more predictable levels, offering some clarity for industry professionals, investors and homeowners. While foreclosure filings remain a critical metric for understanding market health, current trends may point to a more balanced landscape, potentially shaped by careful lending practices and ongoing homeowner resilience.”

Attom’s year-end foreclosure report provides a count of properties with a foreclosure filing during the year based on publicly recorded and published foreclosure filings collected in more than 3,000 counties nationwide, accounting for more than 99 percent of the U.S. population.

The report also includes new data for December 2024, showing there were 28,632 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings, down 3 percent from the previous month and down 6 percent from a year ago.

Lenders started the foreclosure process on 253,306 U.S. properties in 2024, down 6 percent from 2023, up 174 percent from 2021, but down 25 percent form 2019 and down 88 percent from a peak of 2,139,005 in 2009.

States that saw the greatest number of foreclosure starts in 2024 included California (29,529 foreclosure starts), Florida (29,239 foreclosure starts), Texas (28,946 foreclosure starts), New York (14,436 foreclosure starts) and Illinois (13,082 foreclosure starts).

Those metropolitan statistical areas with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of foreclosure starts in 2024, included New York City (15,327 foreclosure starts), Chicago (11,508 foreclosure starts), Houston (10,197 foreclosure starts), Los Angeles (8,790 foreclosure starts), and Miami (8,603 foreclosure starts).

Lenders repossessed 36,505 properties through foreclosures in 2024, down 13 percent from 2023 and down 75 percent from 2019 (143,955). Repossessions were down 97 percent from a peak of 1,050,500 in 2010. States that saw the greatest number of repossessions in 2024 included California (3,466), Illinois (2,858), Pennsylvania (2,828), Michigan (2,629) and Texas (2,501).