Foreclosure Starts, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans referred to foreclosure each month
What is the current Foreclosure Starts, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans reading?
Servicers referred 7,979 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans to an attorney to begin foreclosure in May 2026, 577 more than a year earlier. A start begins the legal process; it is not a foreclosure sale. The count covers only the two companies' single-family loans, not FHA, VA or bank-portfolio loans. Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report.
Measurement basis: Number of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans referred to an attorney to begin the legal foreclosure process in the calendar month (FHFA's glossary: loans not in foreclosure the month before and referred to foreclosure in the current month). A monthly count of loans from the Mortgage Performance table on the Highlights page of FHFA's Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report. FHFA's quarterly editions print only quarter totals, which are never used as a month; a month with no monthly figure is left out.
Servicers referred 7,979 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans to foreclosure in May 2026, 577 more than a year earlier.
A foreclosure start is a loan referred to an attorney to begin the legal foreclosure process in a given month, when it was not in foreclosure the month before. The Federal Housing Finance Agency counted 7,979 starts on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in May 2026, up from 7,402 in May 2025.
A start begins the legal process. It is not a foreclosure sale, which FHFA counts separately. The count covers only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans; for foreclosure activity across all mortgages, see ATTOM's counts in Foreclosure Starts vs. Bank Repossessions and Foreclosure Filings YoY Change.
FHFA's quarterly editions print only three-month totals, so a month that no monthly edition covers is left out of the chart rather than estimated from the quarter.
Explore Further
Foreclosure Starts, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans over time: what has changed?
Counties with the highest default and legal scores
These are default and legal scores from our County Distress Index, not county readings of Foreclosure Starts, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Loans.
Explore all 3,144 counties →| Period | Value | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 8K | +1K |
| Apr 2026 | 8K | +1K |
| Mar 2026 | 8K | +1K |
| Feb 2026 | 8K | +2K |
| Jan 2026 | 9K | +1K |
| Dec 2025 | 10K | +2K |
| Nov 2025 | 7K | +1K |
| Oct 2025 | 9K | +2K |
| Sep 2025 | 9K | +2K |
| Aug 2025 | 8K | 0 |
| Jul 2025 | 8K | +1K |
| Jun 2025 | 7K | +2K |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a foreclosure start?
A loan referred to an attorney to begin the legal process of foreclosure in a given month, when it was not in foreclosure the month before. That is how FHFA's glossary defines it.
Does a foreclosure start mean the home is lost?
No. A start is the referral that begins the legal process. A foreclosure sale, if one happens, comes later, and FHFA counts those sales separately.
How is this different from ATTOM's foreclosure numbers?
ATTOM's figures cover foreclosure activity on all mortgages. This count covers only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, as the two companies report them to FHFA.
Where does this data come from?
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report, which FHFA publishes as a PDF with no release calendar: a monthly edition for eight months of the year and a quarterly edition for March, June, September and December. We read the Highlights table of each new edition with an automated parser and check every number against the PDF's own text before it is saved.
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