Is the economy so strong under Trump?! Another false claim as foreclosures hit highest level in 6 years

The White House continues to insist the economy is roaring, but new housing data tells a very different story. Foreclosure filings in the United States have climbed to their highest level in six years, undermining claims of broad-based prosperity and exposing how rising carrying costs are quietly pushing households to the brink.

According to figures from real estate data firm Attom, nearly 119,000 U.S. properties received a foreclosure filing in the first quarter, a 26% jump from the same period a year earlier. That is the largest tally since the first quarter of 2020, when emergency pandemic-era moratoriums and forbearance programs collapsed foreclosure activity to artificially low levels.

For historical context, foreclosure activity today is still nowhere near the carnage of the last housing bust. At the peak of the 2008–2010 crisis, U.S. foreclosure filings exploded to roughly 2.8 million properties in 2009 and another 2.9 million in 2010 — the all-time record — with about one in every 45 housing units receiving a filing. Activity remained painfully elevated through the recovery, with 1.8 million filings in 2012 and roughly 1.4 million in 2013, before grinding lower through the mid-2010s as the labor market healed and home prices recovered. By 2019, the year before COVID, annual filings had fallen to about 493,000 — a level analysts considered "normal." Today's pace, annualized, sits well below the crisis years but is climbing back toward and through that pre-pandemic baseline.

Analysts caution that the current pace is closer to a normalization than a fresh 2008-style meltdown — but the underlying pressure on homeowners is unmistakable. Even borrowers who locked in low mortgage rates years ago are now being squeezed by costs they cannot refinance away: homeowners insurance, property taxes, and homeowners-association dues.

The numbers are striking. Insurify reports the average annual homeowners insurance bill climbed to $2,948 in 2025, up 12% in a single year. Attom data show the average property tax burden rose 3% to $4,427. Layered on top of higher utilities and maintenance, those increases are enough to tip stretched households into delinquency even when the mortgage itself is affordable.

The picture is worse for recent buyers. Households that purchased at peak prices and elevated mortgage rates have less equity to fall back on, and in some markets where home values have softened, owners are now underwater. With pandemic-era relief programs gone — and the Federal Housing Administration limiting loan modifications to once every 24 months — the safety net is thinner than it has been in years.

Meanwhile, the average monthly payment across all outstanding U.S. mortgages has hit a record $2,005, even though the bulk of borrowers still hold loans originated before 2022 at rates of 4% or below. New buyers face dramatically higher payments, and the gap between insiders with cheap legacy loans and everyone else continues to widen.

The takeaway is uncomfortable for anyone selling a story of unambiguous economic strength. Rising foreclosures, record-high insurance premiums, and ballooning property tax bills are not signs of an economy firing on all cylinders — they are signs of an affordability crunch that has migrated from the closing table to the kitchen table.