Foreclosure activity is ticking up again across the country, and Cleveland is wearing a crown nobody wants.
Across the U.S., foreclosure filings in May were up 14% compared with a year earlier, even though they dipped 5% from April. All told, 40,355 properties had at least one foreclosure action during the month, with lenders starting the process on 27,304 properties and completing 4,092 bank repossessions. It is a mixed picture: a bit of month-to-month relief, paired with steadily rising pressure compared with last year.
According to a report by ATTOM, both foreclosure starts and completed foreclosures are climbing year over year, a sign of ongoing affordability stress, even as total volumes remain below pre-pandemic norms. ATTOM CEO Rob Barber said the pattern reflects “ongoing pressure on some homeowners” from elevated mortgage rates and rising ownership costs.
Where Filings Are Concentrated
The strain is far from evenly spread. Florida posted the highest state foreclosure rate in May, with roughly one filing for every 2,110 housing units, followed by South Carolina and Maryland, as reported by HousingWire.
Among the larger metropolitan areas, Cleveland topped the list with about one filing for every 1,524 housing units. Tampa, Riverside, and Orlando also landed near the upper tier of metro foreclosure rates.
Which States And Metros Led Starts And REOs
On the front end of the process, Texas logged the most foreclosure starts in May, with 3,590 properties entering the pipeline. It was followed by Florida with 3,315 starts and California with 2,530, according to InvestmentNews.
Completed foreclosures were similarly concentrated in big markets. Chicago led real estate owned (REO) tallies with 204 bank repossessions, followed by Detroit and Houston.
Why The Numbers Matter
Analysts are pointing squarely at borrowing costs and affordability. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate sat in the mid-6% range in May, according to Freddie Mac data reported by AP. That keeps monthly payments well above the ultra-cheap levels borrowers enjoyed earlier in the decade.
Fannie Mae's May forecast notes that persistent rate pressure and higher ownership costs are expected to hold back buyer demand and leave more borrowers vulnerable in specific local markets.
What To Watch Next
The month-over-month decline in filings offers a bit of short-term breathing room. Still, ATTOM highlights the broader year-over-year increase as a key trend to watch, as servicers and investors manage a slow trickle of distressed properties back into the housing supply. That could translate into more foreclosure auctions and bank-owned listings in certain metro areas.
Local coverage, such as Pittsburgh Foreclosure Shock, underlines how uneven the fallout can be from one region to the next, even when the national numbers look relatively contained.
