Massachusetts Pre-Foreclosure Rates Drop Sharply in May 2025: A Look Behind the Numbers

The Faces Behind the Falling Foreclosure Numbers

On a quiet street in Springfield, Massachusetts, Maria Lopez, a 47-year-old mother of three, checks her mailbox with a mix of hope and dread. It has been six months since she fell behind on her mortgage after losing her job at a local medical billing company. Each day since then has brought letters she can’t afford to open. Then, something unexpected happened: the bank offered a temporary loan modification.

“I’m just trying to hold on,” she said, clutching a stack of unopened envelopes. “This house is everything to my kids. It’s our safe place.”

Maria’s story, though harrowing, is not unusual. But according to recent data, fewer families in Massachusetts entered pre-foreclosure last month—a rare glint of optimism in an otherwise grueling housing market.

Massachusetts Sees a 38.7% Drop in Pre-Foreclosure Filings in May 2025

In May 2025, 314 Massachusetts homeowners received pre-foreclosure notices, marking a notable 38.7% decline from April, when 512 filings were recorded. Year-over-year, the drop is even more striking: May 2024 saw 561 pre-foreclosures, placing this year’s number 44% lower.

This decline offers a momentary reprieve in a sector that’s seen ups and downs over the past two decades. But experts caution against interpreting the dip as a definitive sign of recovery.

“This isn’t a story of resolution—it’s a story of pause,” said Thomas Gerard, a housing attorney based in Worcester. “Many homeowners are teetering on the brink. Lenders are slowing legal action, but the financial instability is still deeply rooted.”

Tracing the Trends: From Crisis to COVID to Today

To understand today’s pre-foreclosure numbers, it’s helpful to revisit where Massachusetts has been.

The state’s housing crisis reached a boiling point in 2008, when a breathtaking 33,477 homeowners entered pre-foreclosure, coinciding with the national wave of subprime loan defaults and economic collapse. The following years saw a rollercoaster of recovery: moderate gains, aggressive loan modifications, and, more recently, unprecedented disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, foreclosure filings dipped to just 1,393—a low artificially driven by federal and state moratoriums. Once those protections began to lift, pre-foreclosure activity rose sharply, reaching 7,407 by 2023. But 2024 ushered in a softening, recording 6,837 notices for the year. And now, through the first five months of 2025, only 1,328 Massachusetts properties have entered pre-foreclosure.

At first glance, the numbers suggest that fewer people are falling behind on their mortgages. But the reasons are more complex.

The Human Cost of Housing Insecurity

In Lynn, Edward Samuels, a school janitor whose hours were cut last winter, has been juggling medical bills, overdue utilities, and mortgage arrears. “There’s never enough left at the end of the month,” he said. “I thought with interest rates this high, lenders wouldn’t care anymore, but they’re actually calling more now.”

For low-income Massachusetts families, the state’s high housing costs are a persistent threat. In Worcester County, the median home price remains well above $400,000, putting even modest homes out of reach for many lifelong residents.

“Affordability is not improving, it’s being masked,” said Helen Duarte, a housing policy researcher with a focus on New England housing trends. “When foreclosures slow down but cost-burdens increase, you’re looking at families that are surviving paycheck to paycheck. They’re not out of danger—they’re just not in court yet.”

Conclusion: Measuring Household Stability by More Than Just Numbers

Pre-foreclosure rates in Massachusetts show a promising drop—38.7% from April to May, and 44% compared to last year. Yet behind the encouraging statistics are thousands of homeowners on edge, teetering between recovery and disaster.

The question now isn’t just whether foreclosure rates will keep falling—it’s whether the families behind these mortgages are truly getting the help they need to hold onto the only wealth and shelter they have. For Maria, Edward, and countless others, the fight isn’t over when the letter doesn’t come. It’s over when their homes, and the lives built within them, are truly stable.