US Foreclosure Filings Rose 26% Year-over-Year in Q1 2026. Here Is What the ATTOM Data Actually Says.

ATTOM released its Q1 2026 US Foreclosure Market Report this spring, and the headline numbers have been moving fast through the financial press. If you are a homeowner or a buyer in the Phoenix area and you saw the coverage, here is the careful version of what the data actually says, what it does not say, and how I would think about it if you were sitting across from me.

I want to do this slowly, because foreclosure data is the kind of thing where the relative-change number and the absolute-rate number tell different stories, and both stories matter.

The Headline Numbers

ATTOM tracks foreclosure activity at three different points in the process: total filings (any document filed against a property), foreclosure starts (the first formal step the lender takes), and bank repossessions, also called REOs (the final stage, where the lender takes title).

For Q1 2026:

- **118,727 US properties had a foreclosure filing.** That is up 6% from Q4 2025 and up 26% from Q1 2025.
- **Foreclosure starts: 82,631 properties.** Up 7% quarter-over-quarter, up 20% year-over-year.
- **Bank repossessions: 14,020 properties.** Up 45% year-over-year.

ATTOM also reports that Q1 2026 marked **12 consecutive months of year-over-year increases** in foreclosure activity. And the most recent monthly snapshot from January 2026 showed filings up 32% year-over-year, on its own.

Those are real movements. They are also the part that gets the headlines.

The Part the Headlines Tend to Skip

Here is the other number from the same ATTOM report: in Q1 2026, **one in every 1,211 US housing units had a foreclosure filing**. That is the national rate.

To put that in plain terms, that is less than one tenth of one percent of the housing stock. It is historically low. ATTOM's coverage notes that Q1 2026 was the highest first quarter since 2020, so the recent trend is up, but the absolute level is still well below the kind of activity we saw during the 2008 to 2012 housing downturn, when foreclosure rates were many multiples of where they sit today.

That is why I am careful with how I talk about this with clients. A +26% year-over-year change on a base rate of 1 in 1,211 is a meaningful shift in direction. It is not, on its own, a crisis-level number. Both of those things are true at the same time, and any honest read of the data has to hold them both.

Which States Are Driving the Numbers

ATTOM's April 2026 state-level data flagged the states with the highest foreclosure rates as:

- Indiana: one in every 739 housing units
- South Carolina: one in every 743
- Florida: one in every 750

Arizona is **not** on the list of top-rate states in ATTOM's published rankings. That matters because national coverage often gets read locally, and the Phoenix metro is not where the bulk of the activity is concentrated. If you live in 85331, 85262, 85087, or anywhere else in the North Valley, the right read on this data is that it is a national story, not a Phoenix-area story.

For a careful read on what is actually happening in any specific Maricopa County zip code, the authoritative path is ATTOM's state and county reports alongside the Maricopa County Treasurer and trustee sale records. If a client wants that pull for their specific neighborhood, that is a separate conversation and a separate data pull. The national framing in this piece is the responsible read on the national headlines.

What Is Driving the Numbers

I want to be careful here because this is where speculation tends to creep in. ATTOM's own commentary tends to point to a few qualitative factors: the gradual wind-down of pandemic-era forbearance and protection programs (which had artificially suppressed foreclosure activity for several years), elevated cost-of-living pressures, and the slow normalization of the underlying process. Different observers in the press weight those factors differently.

What the data clearly shows: a 12-month run of year-over-year increases, with REOs (the late stage of the process) climbing faster than starts (the early stage). That last point is worth noting. When REOs rise faster than starts, it generally reflects loans that entered the process earlier finally working their way through to completion, not necessarily a sudden surge of new distress entering the pipeline.

What the data does not show, and what I will not pretend to know: where this trend goes from here. I do not have a outlook for Q2 2026. Neither does ATTOM, in their published reporting. They report what they observe.

What This Means for Phoenix-Area Buyers and Sellers

For buyers, the honest answer is: not much that should change your search criteria. National foreclosure data is one of those indicators that gets cited a lot in news coverage and matters very little for the specific home you are looking at in Cave Creek, Carefree, Anthem, or Scottsdale. The right inputs for a buying decision are the comps on the street you want to live on, the inventory in your price band, the loan structure that fits your situation, and your own timeline. The national filing rate of 1 in 1,211 is context, not a decision driver.

For sellers, the relevant question is whether elevated national foreclosure activity is affecting buyer psychology in your specific price band. Sometimes national headlines do soak into buyer sentiment in a way that shows up in offer activity. Sometimes they do not. That is a conversation about what is actually happening in your sub-market over the past few weeks, which is a different data pull from a national quarterly report.

For homeowners who are actually facing financial pressure, the most important point I can make is this: the time to talk to your lender is well before the process reaches the filing stage. Loss mitigation options, repayment plans, modifications, short sales, and other alternatives are real tools that lenders work with regularly, and the number of options available shrinks the further into the process a file moves. If that situation applies to anyone reading this, please do not wait, and please talk to a HUD-approved housing counselor or your lender's loss-mitigation department directly.

A Word on the Numbers

These statistics represent real American families who are going through one of the hardest financial experiences a household can face. I am sharing the ATTOM report because the data is in the public conversation right now and clients are asking about it, but I want to be careful not to treat foreclosure activity as a market opportunity or a buying angle. It is a hardship metric. The right framing is informational, not transactional.

If you are reading this because a friend, a neighbor, or a family member is facing that situation, the most helpful thing you can do is steer them toward their lender's loss mitigation team and a HUD-approved housing counselor, and to do it early.

How to Reach Me

If you want to talk through what any of this means for your specific situation, my email is JonHegreness@gmail.com and my direct line is (623) 826-0888. I have been working the Phoenix-area market since 2002 and I have seen plenty of headlines cycle through. The careful read on the numbers is almost always more useful than the loud one.

If you, or someone you know, would benefit from a conversation about real estate, I would love to connect. Most of my business is relationship based and driven heavily by referrals that come from people just like yourself. Any connection you can make for me, would be greatly appreciated.

Jon