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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. HOME VACANCY RATE STEADY FOR 13th STRAIGHT QUARTER
Nationwide Home Vacancy Rate at 1.3 Percent for More than Three Years; Proportion of Zombie Homes Rose Year-Over-Year IRVINE, Calif., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its second-quarter 2025 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.4 million (1,382,480) residential properties, about 1.3 percent of all homes in the United States, are vacant. The latest data marks the thirteenth consecutive quarter that the vacancy rate has hovered around 1.3 percent. The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below). ATTOM's analysis shows that 222,358 properties were in the foreclosure process during the second quarter of 2025, up 4.8 percent from the first quarter of the year but down 6.3 percent year-over-year. Prior to this latest increase, the number of properties in foreclosure had gone down in each of the previous five quarters. In the second quarter, 7,329 of those pre-foreclosure properties, 3.3 percent, were "zombie" properties, meaning they had been abandoned by their owners and sat vacant during the foreclosure process. The proportion of pre-foreclosure homes that are vacant is essentially the same as the first quarter of 2025 but up slightly from 2.9 percent during the same period last year. Zombie properties, which can fall into disrepair and negatively impact property values in a neighborhood, are seen as a sign of an unhealthy housing market and economy. The low rate of zombie properties—only one in every 14,207 homes in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2025—is indicative of the strength of the post-pandemic housing market. "Thankfully, we're not seeing a lot of homes sitting vacant due to pending foreclosures, which is good for families, neighborhoods, and the market," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "However, foreclosure filings have shown a recent uptick—with April seeing a 14 percent increase compared to the same month last year." "So far, buyers seem to be scooping up these repossessed homes relatively quickly, so they aren't sitting empty," Barber added. "Nobody wants to see a return to the days of the 2008 housing crisis when vacant, blighted homes were common in many parts of the country." Small statewide shifts in numbers of zombie homesThe number of zombie properties increased quarter-over-quarter in 30 states and the District of Columbia, but mostly by small amounts. The changes were also relatively small in the 19 states that saw their number of zombie properties fall. Year-over-year, the biggest percent increases in states that had at least 50 zombie homes were in North Carolina (52.5 percent more zombie properties, from 59 in the second quarter of 2024 to 90 in the second quarter of 2025), Iowa (up 52.1 percent, from 71 to 108), Texas (up 51.9 percent from 162 to 246), South Carolina (up 43.8 percent from 64 to 92), and Kansas (up 29 percent, from 69 to 89) The biggest yearly decreases among states with at least 50 zombie homes in the second quarter of 2024 were Massachusetts (down 48.7 percent, from 76 to 39), Maryland (down 22.1 percent, from 86 to 67), New Jersey (down 17.6 percent, from 239 to 197), California (down 8.9 percent, from 269 to 245), and Illinois (down 8.8 percent, from 724 to 660). Highest vacancy rates in the South, lowest in the NortheastThe vacancy rate for residential properties in the U.S. has remained steady around 1.3 percent for thirteen consecutive quarters. The states with the highest home vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2025 were Oklahoma (2.4 percent), Kansas (2.3 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent), Missouri (2.2 percent), and West Virginia (2.1 percent). The states with the lowest home vacancy rates in the most recent quarter were New Hampshire (0.3 percent), Vermont (0.4 percent), New Jersey (0.5 percent), Idaho (0.5 percent), and Connecticut (0.5 percent). Most large metro areas have zombie home rates below national rateAbout 55 percent (76) of the 138 metropolitan statistical areas in our analysis that had at least 100,000 residential properties and at least 100 properties in pre-foreclosure during the second quarter of 2025 had zombie foreclosure rates below the national rate of 3.3 percent. The metro areas with the highest proportion of pre-foreclosure homes that were vacant were Wichita, KS (12.1 percent); Peoria, IL (11.8 percent); Toledo, OH (10.2 percent); Cedar Rapids, IA (10.2 percent); and Cleveland, OH (10 percent). The metro areas with the lowest proportion of zombie foreclosures were Barnstable, MA (0 percent); Atlantic City, NJ (0.2 percent); Provo, UT (0.3 percent); Trenton, NJ (0.5 percent); and Stockton, CA (0.6 percent). Investor and bank owned homes see higher vacancy ratesThere were 24.8 million investor-owned properties in our analysis of second quarter 2025 home data, with a nationwide vacancy rate of 3.5 percent. The states with the highest investor-owned vacancy rates were Indiana (7.3 percent), Illinois (6.2 percent), Alabama (6 percent), Oklahoma (6 percent), and Ohio (5.8 percent) The states with the lowest investor-owned vacancy rates were New Hampshire (0.9 percent), Vermont (1 percent), Idaho (1.2 percent), Utah (1.5 percent), and North Dakota (1.6 percent). A third of zip codes have high zombie home ratesAbout 36 percent (781) of the 2,166 zip codes in ATTOM's analysis that had at least 25 properties in pre-foreclosure during the second quarter of 2025 had zombie foreclosure rates above the national rate of 3.3 percent. While in 42 percent (903) of those zip codes, there were no zombie foreclosures. The zip codes with the highest zombie foreclosure rates were 61605 in Peoria, IL (51.9 percent); 44108 in Cleveland, OH (42.2 percent); 61603 in Peoria, IL (34.6 percent), 32118 in Deltona, FL (34.2 percent), and 33708 in Tampa, FL (33.3 percent). Report Methodology ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for 104.1 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the second quarter of 2025. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties were included in the analysis. About ATTOM ATTOM powers innovation across industries with premium property data and analytics covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our multi-sourced real estate data includes property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, neighborhood and geospatial boundary information, all validated through a rigorous 20-step process and linked by a unique ATTOM ID. From flexible delivery solutions—such as Property Data APIs, Bulk File Licenses, ATTOM Cloud, Real Estate Market Trends—to AI-Ready datasets, ATTOM fuels smarter decision-making across industries including real estate, mortgage, insurance, government, and more. Media Contact:Megan Data and Report Licensing:datareports@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE ATTOM
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. HOME VACANCY RATE STEADY FOR 13th STRAIGHT QUARTER
Nationwide Home Vacancy Rate at 1.3 Percent for More than Three Years; Proportion of Zombie Homes Rose Year-Over-Year IRVINE, Calif., May 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its second-quarter 2025 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.4 million (1,382,480) residential properties, about 1.3 percent of all homes in the United States, are vacant. The latest data marks the thirteenth consecutive quarter that the vacancy rate has hovered around 1.3 percent. The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below). ATTOM's analysis shows that 222,358 properties were in the foreclosure process during the second quarter of 2025, up 4.8 percent from the first quarter of the year but down 6.3 percent year-over-year. Prior to this latest increase, the number of properties in foreclosure had gone down in each of the previous five quarters. In the second quarter, 7,329 of those pre-foreclosure properties, 3.3 percent, were "zombie" properties, meaning they had been abandoned by their owners and sat vacant during the foreclosure process. The proportion of pre-foreclosure homes that are vacant is essentially the same as the first quarter of 2025 but up slightly from 2.9 percent during the same period last year. Zombie properties, which can fall into disrepair and negatively impact property values in a neighborhood, are seen as a sign of an unhealthy housing market and economy. The low rate of zombie properties—only one in every 14,207 homes in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2025—is indicative of the strength of the post-pandemic housing market. "Thankfully, we're not seeing a lot of homes sitting vacant due to pending foreclosures, which is good for families, neighborhoods, and the market," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "However, foreclosure filings have shown a recent uptick—with April seeing a 14 percent increase compared to the same month last year." "So far, buyers seem to be scooping up these repossessed homes relatively quickly, so they aren't sitting empty," Barber added. "Nobody wants to see a return to the days of the 2008 housing crisis when vacant, blighted homes were common in many parts of the country." Small statewide shifts in numbers of zombie homesThe number of zombie properties increased quarter-over-quarter in 30 states and the District of Columbia, but mostly by small amounts. The changes were also relatively small in the 19 states that saw their number of zombie properties fall. Year-over-year, the biggest percent increases in states that had at least 50 zombie homes were in North Carolina (52.5 percent more zombie properties, from 59 in the second quarter of 2024 to 90 in the second quarter of 2025), Iowa (up 52.1 percent, from 71 to 108), Texas (up 51.9 percent from 162 to 246), South Carolina (up 43.8 percent from 64 to 92), and Kansas (up 29 percent, from 69 to 89) The biggest yearly decreases among states with at least 50 zombie homes in the second quarter of 2024 were Massachusetts (down 48.7 percent, from 76 to 39), Maryland (down 22.1 percent, from 86 to 67), New Jersey (down 17.6 percent, from 239 to 197), California (down 8.9 percent, from 269 to 245), and Illinois (down 8.8 percent, from 724 to 660). Highest vacancy rates in the South, lowest in the NortheastThe vacancy rate for residential properties in the U.S. has remained steady around 1.3 percent for thirteen consecutive quarters. The states with the highest home vacancy rates in the second quarter of 2025 were Oklahoma (2.4 percent), Kansas (2.3 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent), Missouri (2.2 percent), and West Virginia (2.1 percent). The states with the lowest home vacancy rates in the most recent quarter were New Hampshire (0.3 percent), Vermont (0.4 percent), New Jersey (0.5 percent), Idaho (0.5 percent), and Connecticut (0.5 percent). Most large metro areas have zombie home rates below national rateAbout 55 percent (76) of the 138 metropolitan statistical areas in our analysis that had at least 100,000 residential properties and at least 100 properties in pre-foreclosure during the second quarter of 2025 had zombie foreclosure rates below the national rate of 3.3 percent. The metro areas with the highest proportion of pre-foreclosure homes that were vacant were Wichita, KS (12.1 percent); Peoria, IL (11.8 percent); Toledo, OH (10.2 percent); Cedar Rapids, IA (10.2 percent); and Cleveland, OH (10 percent). The metro areas with the lowest proportion of zombie foreclosures were Barnstable, MA (0 percent); Atlantic City, NJ (0.2 percent); Provo, UT (0.3 percent); Trenton, NJ (0.5 percent); and Stockton, CA (0.6 percent). Investor and bank owned homes see higher vacancy ratesThere were 24.8 million investor-owned properties in our analysis of second quarter 2025 home data, with a nationwide vacancy rate of 3.5 percent. The states with the highest investor-owned vacancy rates were Indiana (7.3 percent), Illinois (6.2 percent), Alabama (6 percent), Oklahoma (6 percent), and Ohio (5.8 percent) The states with the lowest investor-owned vacancy rates were New Hampshire (0.9 percent), Vermont (1 percent), Idaho (1.2 percent), Utah (1.5 percent), and North Dakota (1.6 percent). A third of zip codes have high zombie home ratesAbout 36 percent (781) of the 2,166 zip codes in ATTOM's analysis that had at least 25 properties in pre-foreclosure during the second quarter of 2025 had zombie foreclosure rates above the national rate of 3.3 percent. While in 42 percent (903) of those zip codes, there were no zombie foreclosures. The zip codes with the highest zombie foreclosure rates were 61605 in Peoria, IL (51.9 percent); 44108 in Cleveland, OH (42.2 percent); 61603 in Peoria, IL (34.6 percent), 32118 in Deltona, FL (34.2 percent), and 33708 in Tampa, FL (33.3 percent). Report Methodology ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for 104.1 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the second quarter of 2025. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties were included in the analysis. About ATTOM ATTOM powers innovation across industries with premium property data and analytics covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our multi-sourced real estate data includes property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, neighborhood and geospatial boundary information, all validated through a rigorous 20-step process and linked by a unique ATTOM ID. From flexible delivery solutions—such as Property Data APIs, Bulk File Licenses, ATTOM Cloud, Real Estate Market Trends—to AI-Ready datasets, ATTOM fuels smarter decision-making across industries including real estate, mortgage, insurance, government, and more. Media Contact:Megan Data and Report Licensing:datareports@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE ATTOM Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
HOME-PRICE TRENDS IN OPPORTUNITY ZONES STILL FOLLOWING NATIONAL PATTERNS DURING FIRST QUARTER OF 2025
Price Gains Inside Opportunity Zones Targeted for Economic Redevelopment Settle Down Along with Broader U.S. Housing Market During Slow Winter Period IRVINE, Calif., May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its first-quarter 2025 report analyzing qualified low-income Opportunity Zones targeted by Congress for economic redevelopment in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (see full methodology below). In this report, ATTOM looked at 3,558 zones around the United States with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least five home sales in the first quarter of 2025. The report found that median single-family home and condo prices increased from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 in 48 percent of Opportunity Zones around the country with enough data to measure. That happened as the national median price remained the same. Medians were up annually in 59 percent of Opportunity Zones during a time when the typical nationwide price went up 8 percent. As the U.S. housing market boom continued into in its 14th year, median prices grew more than 10 percent annually in close to half the Opportunity Zones analyzed. Those trends, in and around low-income neighborhoods where the federal government offers tax breaks to spur economic revival, extended a long-term pattern of home values inside Opportunity Zones closely tracking broader nationwide price shifts for at least the last four years. That scenario has held regardless of whether the housing market has seen small, moderate or robust gains. Despite prices continuing to rise in a majority of Opportunity Zone markets when measured year over year, the first-quarter trends again were mixed, with typical values again rising far more often in higher-priced zones than in the very lowest-priced neighborhoods. That continued to show more significant weakness at the very bottom of the U.S. housing market, suggesting that those areas are reaping the fewest benefits from rising home values and could be more vulnerable if the broader market surge stalls. Nevertheless, the latest patterns mark yet another sign that some of the most distressed communities in the nation are showing economic strength, or limited weakness, compared to other markets around the country. By several important measures, Opportunity Zones continued to enjoy even better price trends than the nation as a whole during the first quarter of 2025. For example, annual median price increases bested typical nationwide gains in a slightly larger portion of Opportunity Zones than elsewhere. "Home-value patterns inside Opportunity Zones remain pretty much in lock-step with the rest of the country, just as we've seen ever since we started looking at this niche of the market. From one to another, those very local markets remain volatile, with troubling signs in the very lowest-priced areas. But the big picture shows remarkable, and mostly positive, consistency," said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. "This likely reflects the ongoing short supply of homes for sale across the country and rising prices, which pushes marginal buyers to roll the dice on locations with varying levels of economic distress." Barber added that "the home-buyer money flowing into these communities shows enduring potential for them to turn around, providing solid foundations for investors looking to use the Opportunity Zone incentives." Opportunity Zones are defined in the Tax Act legislation as census tracts in or alongside low-income neighborhoods that meet various criteria for redevelopment in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. Census tracts, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, cover areas that have 1,200 to 8,000 residents, with an average of about 4,000 people. Amid varying levels of economic challenges, typical home values across wide swaths of Opportunity Zones remained far below those around most of the nation in the early months of 2025. Median first-quarter prices inside 80 percent of the zones with enough data to measure stood below the U.S. median of $355,000. That was about the same portion as in other time periods since 2020. In addition, median prices remained less than $200,000 in almost half the zones. Considerable price volatility also continued inside Opportunity Zones, with median values either dropping or increasing by at least 5 percent in nearly three-quarters those locations from late 2023 to early 2024. That again likely reflected small numbers of sales in many zones. Still, when taken as a whole, the latest overall trends in Opportunity Zones still generally matched the nationwide path of home prices during the first few months of 2025. High-level findings from the report: Median prices of single-family homes and condos increased from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 in 1,491 (48 percent) of the Opportunity Zones around the U.S. with sufficient data to analyze, while staying the same or decreasing in 52 percent. Measured annually, medians remained up from the first quarter of 2024 to same period this year in 1,762 (59 percent) of those zones. (Among the 3,558 Opportunity Zones included in the report, 3,120 had enough data to generate usable median-price comparisons from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025; 3,004 had enough data to make comparisons between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025). Both the quarterly and annual trends in Opportunity Zones matched patterns in other areas: median prices rose quarterly and annually in the same portion of census tracts outside of Opportunity Zones - 48 percent and 59 percent. Typical values were up more than 10 percent annually in 42 percent of Opportunity Zones, compared to 37 percent of neighborhoods outside the zones. However, in a continuing potential sign of trouble, median prices were up annually in only 47 percent of Opportunity Zones where homes commonly sold for less than $125,000 during the first quarter of 2025. Among states that had at least 25 Opportunity Zones with enough data to analyze during the first quarter of 2025, the largest portions of zones where median prices increased annually were in Indiana (medians up from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 in 75 percent of zones), New York (72 percent), Missouri (70 percent), Colorado (69 percent) and New Jersey (65 percent). States where prices were up annually in the smallest portion of zones included Nevada (median prices up in 44 percent of zones), Washington (49 percent), Florida (49 percent), Iowa (52 percent) and Tennessee (52 percent). Of the 3,558 zones in the report, 1,097 (31 percent) had median prices below $150,000 in the first quarter of 2025. That was down from 34 percent of zones with sufficient data a year earlier and 57 percent five years ago. Another 556 zones (16 percent) had medians in the first quarter of this year ranging from $150,000 to $199,999. Median values in the first quarter of 2025 ranged from $200,000 to $299,999 in 24 percent of Opportunity Zones while they topped the nationwide first-quarter national median of $355,000 in just 20 percent. The Midwest continued in the first quarter of 2025 to have larger portions of the lowest-priced Opportunity Zone tracts. Median home values were less than $175,000 in 61 percent of zones in the Midwest, followed by the Northeast (42 percent), the South (39 percent) and the West (6 percent). Report methodologyThe ATTOM Opportunity Zones analysis is based on home sales price data derived from recorded sales deeds. Statistics for previous quarters are revised when each new report is issued as more deed data becomes available. ATTOM's analysis compared median home prices in census tracts designated as Opportunity Zones by the Internal Revenue Service. Except where noted, tracts were used for the analysis if they had at least five sales in the first quarter of 2025. Median household income data for tracts and counties comes from surveys taken by the U.S. Census Bureau ( from 2019 through 2023. The list of designated Qualified Opportunity Zones is located at U.S. Department of the Treasury. Regions are based on designations by the Census Bureau. Hawaii and Alaska, which the bureau designates as part of the Pacific region, were included in the West region for this report. About ATTOMATTOM powers innovation across industries with premium property data and analytics covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our multi-sourced real estate data includes property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, neighborhood and geospatial boundary information, all validated through a rigorous 20-step process and linked by a unique ATTOM ID. From flexible delivery solutions—such as Property Data APIs, Bulk File Licenses, ATTOM Cloud, Real Estate Market Trends—to AI-Ready datasets, ATTOM fuels smarter decision-making across industries including real estate, mortgage, insurance, government, and more. Media Contact:Megan Data and Report Licensing:949.502.8313datareports@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE ATTOM
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Climate disasters are raising risk of US home repossessions, warns research group
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Climate change myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Climate-related disasters are raising the risk of home repossessions in the US and could cause billions of dollars in annual mortgage-related credit losses over the next decade, according to a new report by a risk-modelling group. The report was released as the economic toll of the latest tornadoes that swept through Missouri and Kentucky, leaving at least 25 people dead and scores injured, was still being calculated. Uninsured damage from flooding, as well as the depreciation of home values and rising insurance premiums from increasingly destructive climate disasters, could lead to as much as $1.2bn in credit losses in 2025, said risk-modelling group First Street. It was estimated that mortgages on about 19,000 properties could be repossessed — or foreclosed, as the process is known in the US — this year due to climate risk. That figure is estimated to rise to $5.4bn in losses from almost 84,000 repossessions by 2035, according to First Street calculations. In 2024, lenders began the repossession process for about 253,000 properties in the US, according to real estate data company ATTOM. 'Mortgage markets are now on the front lines of climate risk,' said Jeremy Porter, First Street's head of climate implications. 'Our modelling demonstrates that physical hazards are already eroding foundational assumptions of loan underwriting, property valuation and credit servicing — introducing systemic financial risk,' he said. Rising global temperatures are leading to more frequent and extreme weather events, such as storms, drought and flooding. The increase in climate-related disasters is already driving insurance losses, which hit $320bn globally in 2024, according to Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurance group. In 2024, the US alone suffered damage costing at least $182.7bn as a result of extreme weather and climate disasters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In response, private insurers have raised premiums, stopped underwriting new policies, or dropped coverage entirely in high-risk areas, such as locations in California and Florida, which experience higher than average policy non-renewal rates. In turn, higher insurance premiums can lead to higher mortgage and credit card delinquency, according to a January report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. These risks to a borrower's creditworthiness — stemming from climate change — can ultimately 'threaten household financial health and potentially impact the stability of the financial system', wrote the bank authors. St Louis was among the Midwest cities hardest hit by tornadoes this weekend © Reuters In its report, First Street — which analysed how past wildfire, flooding and hurricane events affected repossession rates, as well as indirect factors such as insurance premiums and home prices — found that insurance coverage was a crucial factor in recovering from disasters and avoiding repossession. For example, because standard homeowners insurance typically covers storm wind and wildfire damage, repossession rates were, in fact, lower for homes damaged by those types of disasters than those that were not because of insurance payouts, according to First Street. In the case of some storms, federal emergency and disaster funding brought in another 'influx of cash' to a community, added Porter. Flood insurance, on the other hand, is often optional and costly. Many areas of the US are also not considered nationally designated 'Special Flood Hazard Areas', where federally backed mortgage holders are required to buy flood insurance. But in those areas, heavy rainfall can cause flooding, resulting in property damage. This gap in flood insurance coverage leaves many properties exposed and is a major factor in increasing a homeowner's risk of repossession, according to First Street. Overall, a combination of financial stressors due to climate risks can amplify a borrower's risk of defaulting, said the report, from high insurance premiums and broader economic strain to home equity losses from property value declines. 'We have this climate debt built up that we're trying to correct for', Porter told the Financial Times. 'At this point, part of that is pricing risk properly so people know what they're getting into when they buy their home.' Where climate change meets business, markets and politics. Explore the FT's coverage here. Are you curious about the FT's environmental sustainability commitments? Find out more about our science-based targets here
Epoch Times
18-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Foreclosure Filings Jump Nearly 14 Percent in April
There were 36,033 properties with foreclosure filings in April across the United States, 13.9 percent higher yearly and up 0.4 percent from March, real estate analytics company ATTOM said in a May 15 statement. April was the 'April's foreclosure activity continued its gradual climb, with both starts and completions up annually,' 'While volumes remain below historical norms, the year-over-year increases may suggest that some homeowners are beginning to feel the effects of persistent economic pressures.' Elevated mortgage rates put immense pressure on homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages. To put this into context, the average weekly rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has remained above 6.5 percent since the beginning of the year. Four years ago, the rate was hovering around 3 percent during this period. Related Stories 5/16/2025 5/12/2025 For homeowners experiencing financial stress, having to consistently make higher mortgage payments for a longer period can force them into foreclosure. Nationwide, one in every 3,950 housing units filed for foreclosure in April, according to ATTOM. South Carolina saw the highest rate of foreclosure, with one in 2,311 homes making a filing. This was followed by Illinois, Florida, Delaware, and Nevada. The trend of rising foreclosures could continue through the year as long as mortgage rates do not see any significant decline. While some experts and institutions foresee rates falling this year, the predicted decline is only marginal. For instance, Fannie Mae expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates to end this year at 6.2 percent, according to an April 28 Rates above six percent will continue to put pressure on many homeowners. Easing Foreclosure Burdens The Trump administration has taken steps to ease the burden on Americans faced with foreclosure. On April 8, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner The decision was taken as the existing moratorium was set to expire on April 11. The latest moratorium extends it by 90 days until July 10. The moratorium is applicable to single-family mortgages in the Presidentially-Declared Major Disaster Areas (PDMDAs) that have been insured by the FHA. The extension benefits homeowners in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. The FHA insures more than a million single-family mortgages in Helene and Milton PDMDAs. 'As Western North Carolina works to recover from the devastation left by Helene, it is crucial that we provide families with the support they need to restore their homes and rebuild their lives,' said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). 'Extending the foreclosure moratoriums offers vital time and flexibility for borrowers to access critical assistance, ensuring that no family is left behind as they work to recover and move forward.' States are taking steps to protect homeowners from certain foreclosures. On May 15, the Connecticut Senate passed SB 1336. The legislation institutes a statute of limitations on the collection of second loans that have been dormant for a long time, the Connecticut Senate Democrats said in a May 15 Specifically, it prohibits lenders from starting foreclosure proceedings on secondary mortgages 10 years after the scheduled final loan payment date or 10 years after the lender stops communicating with a borrower. 'This bill protects our homeowners from foreclosure threats based on debt that's been dormant for more than a decade,' said Miller. 'The change puts Connecticut in alignment with national trends as states across the country move to shield consumers from the delayed impact of predatory lending practices.' 'No one making reliable payments on their primary mortgage should face foreclosure because someone made an opportunistic decision to resurrect a secondary loan, years after deciding that collection wasn't worth the effort when property values plummeted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.'
