Exclusive | Banks seize 42% more homes as Americans fall behind on mortgages with one state hit the hardest
More American’s are losing the keys to their houses.Foreclosures are climbing across the US, with the number of homes repossessed by lenders surging 42% from a year ago as more struggling homeowners reach the end of the foreclosure process.Lenders repossessed 5,794 properties through completed foreclosures in August, up 22% from July and a 42% from August 2025, according to a new report from real estate data firm ATTOM.Overall, 40,277 US properties received some form of foreclosure filing — including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — during the month.
That was up just 1% from July but 13% from a year earlier, continuing a months-long trend of foreclosure activity running above 2025 levels.Florida recorded the largest number of foreclosure starts, at 3,189, followed closely by Texas with 3,126 and California with 2,565.Illinois and Georgia rounded out the top five.The growing number of homes making it all the way through the foreclosure pipeline was particularly pronounced in Texas.The Lone Star State recorded 1,835 completed foreclosures in August — more than three times California’s 589.
North Carolina followed with 356, Arizona with 296 and Alabama with 286.Texas cities also dominated the list of major metropolitan areas with the most bank repossessions.Houston led the country with 448 completed foreclosures, followed by Dallas with 402 and San Antonio with 256.Phoenix recorded 186, while Baltimore had 167.South Carolina had the highest foreclosure rate in the country in August, with one in every 1,547 housing units receiving a filing.Nevada followed at one in every 1,920 homes, while Florida ranked third at one in every 2,397.Texas, at one in every 2,445 housing units, and Maryland, at one in every 2,530, rounded out the five states with the highest foreclosure rates.Nationwide, one in every 3,569 housing units received a foreclosure filing during August.New York fared better overall, ranking 29th among states, with 1,604 p...