Foreclosure Starts Up 7 Percent Year Over Year; Completed Foreclosures (REOs) Up 42 Percent Annually
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered intelligence, and real estate analytics solutions, today released its August 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 40,277 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions — up 1 percent from a month ago and up 13 percent from a year ago.
“August’s data shows that foreclosure activity continues to trend above year-ago levels, particularly in completed foreclosures, which saw a notable annual increase,” said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. “While some homeowners are still facing financial challenges, overall foreclosure volumes remain well below historical norms and the broader housing market continues to demonstrate resilience.”
South Carolina, Nevada, and Florida post worst foreclosure rates in August
Nationwide, one in every 3,569 housing units had a foreclosure filing in August 2026. South Carolina posted the nation’s worst foreclosure rate, with one filing for every 1,547 housing units, followed by Nevada (one in every 1,920 housing units); Florida (one in every 2,397 housing units); Texas (one in every 2,445 housing units); and Maryland (one in every 2,530 housing units).
Among metro areas with populations of at least 200,000, Columbia, SC posted the nation’s worst foreclosure rate in August 2026, with one foreclosure filing for every 1,232 housing units. It was followed by Punta Gorda, FL (one in every 1,249); Spartanburg, SC (one in every 1,262); Fayetteville, NC (one in every 1,458 housing units); and Charleston, SC (one in every 1,501).
Florida, Texas, and California lead the nation in foreclosure starts
Lenders initiated the foreclosure process on 25,894 U.S. properties in August 2026, down 3% percent from the previous month and up 7 percent from a year ago.
In August 2026, Florida led the nation in foreclosure starts (3,189 foreclosure starts); followed by Texas (3,126 foreclosure starts); California (2,565 foreclosure starts); Illinois (1,192 foreclosure starts); and Georgia (1,189 foreclosure starts).
Contrary to the national trend, among metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 50 foreclosure starts, the following saw the largest year-over-year declines in foreclosure starts in August 2026: Cleveland, OH (decrease from 281 foreclosure starts in August 2025 to 175 in August 2026); Washington DC (decrease from 364 to 227 foreclosure starts); Providence, RI (decrease from 88 to 55 foreclosure starts); Raleigh, NC (decrease from 81 to 57 foreclosure starts); and Kansas City, MO (decrease from 104 to 75 foreclosure starts).
Completed foreclosures remain higher than a year ago
Lenders repossessed 5,794 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in August 2026, an increase of 22 percent from the previous month and 42 percent from a year earlier.
States with the highest number of REOs in August 2026 were Texas (1,835 REOs); California (589 REOs); North Carolina (356 REOs); Arizona (296 REOs); and Alabama (286 REOs).
Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 200,00 that saw the highest number of REOs in August 2026 included: Houston, TX (448 REOs); Dallas, TX (402 REOs); San Antonio, TX (256 REOs); Phoenix, AZ (186 REOs); and Baltimore, MD (167 REOs).
Key takeaways from the August 2026 foreclosure data
ATTOM’s August 2026 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows that 40,277 properties nationwide had a foreclosure filing, up 1 percent from the previous month and 13 percent from a year ago. The data points to continued year-over-year increases across key foreclosure measures, with foreclosure starts rising 7 percent annually to 25,894 and completed foreclosures (REOs) increasing 42 percent to 5,794. Even with those gains, overall foreclosure activity remains below pre-pandemic norms.
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 the nation’s most trusted property data repository, covering 160+ million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced, semantically rich 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, AI applications, and AI agents through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data, enabling organizations to automate analysis, power intelligent workflows, and scale property intelligence across industries.
Media Contact:
Megan Hunt
megan.hunt@attomdata.com
Data and Report Licensing:
949.502.8313
datareports@attomdata.com
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