Massachusetts Pre-Foreclosure Rates: A Worrying Climb Amid Economic Pressures

Rising Pre-Foreclosure Numbers Hint at Growing Instability for Massachusetts Homeowners

In a modest apartment outside Springfield, a single mother of two sits with a thick envelope of paperwork. Overdue bills, mortgage letters stamped “URGENT,” and a yellow flyer advertising help with foreclosure prevention. She has a full-time job at a local pharmacy, yet still falls behind every month. “I’m not lazy. I’m not irresponsible,” she says, her voice taut with frustration. “I just can’t keep up anymore.”

Stories like hers are becoming more common as the housing stress deepens in Massachusetts. According to the latest data for September 2024, the state recorded 479 pre-foreclosure properties. That marks a sharp 36.86% jump from the 350 cases reported in August, reflecting an increasingly strained environment for homeowners, especially those in lower-income brackets.

These homes represent more than dots on a datasheet, they belong to families scrambling to keep the often-generational promise of homeownership alive amid economic headwinds that seem only to worsen.

A Month-to-Month Surge Spurs Concern

The 36.86% month-over-month increase in pre-foreclosure filings from August to September is not a blip, it is a possible harbinger of more distress to come. Mortgage analysts point to a confluence of pressures: post-pandemic inflation, the Federal Reserve’s attempts to curb it through interest rate hikes, and the plateau of wages that haven’t kept pace with rising costs.

While the September 2024 numbers are still below the previous year’s totals (down 15.1% from 564 in September 2023), the monthly spike raises eyebrows. “It’s the steepness of the rise that alarms us,” said one housing policy expert based in Boston. “We’re not yet in crisis territory, but the indicators are flashing yellow.”

Many homeowners relied on pandemic-era safeguards, payment moratoriums, flexible forbearance, and those policies have long expired. What remains is the harsh arithmetic of perpetual shortage: higher monthly payments, pricier groceries, and costlier utility bills. For the thousands of struggling homeowners across the state, a single missed paycheck can begin a cascade of financial dominoes that end in pre-foreclosure paperwork.

The Long Arc of Foreclosure in Massachusetts: Peaks, Valleys, and Recent Rebounds

To understand today’s numbers, it helps to zoom out and consider the broader timeline. Massachusetts experienced its foreclosure peak during the housing crash of 2008–2012, when pre-foreclosure filings reached a high of 27,905 in 2008. Those years were defined by predatory lending, skyrocketing job loss, and plummeting home values.

By 2019, the market had cooled, with just over 6,000 pre-foreclosure filings. Then came the pandemic, which forced yet another realignment: filings dropped to historically low levels, 1,393 in 2020 and 1,388 in 2021, largely protected by sweeping federal and state moratoriums.

But the safety net frayed as the pandemic faded, and the rebound came fast. Filings rose to 5,808 in 2022 and ticked up slightly to 6,272 in 2023. In the first nine months of 2024, Massachusetts has already counted 3,362 pre-foreclosure filings, putting the state on track for about 4,500–4,600 by year’s end.

This year’s totals may not reach the dizzying highs of the Great Recession, but they send a clear signal: the problem is growing again, and with it, the burden falls hardest on those least able to absorb economic shocks.

Low-Income Families Are Hit the Hardest

The people most vulnerable to pre-foreclosure are often the same ones who were most battered by the pandemic and the inflation that followed. Many of them are essential workers in retail, food services, and home care, jobs that didn’t go remote and often didn’t come with hazard pay or significant raises.

In neighborhoods like Mattapan, Holyoke, and Brockton, where housing costs have risen disproportionately to incomes, more families are edging toward foreclosure every month. One local housing advocate in Worcester describes a “tidal wave of need” among clients. “The calls we get now aren’t about credit counseling, they’re about how to keep a roof overhead before winter.”

What’s more troubling, several advocacy groups point out, is that many pre-foreclosure go unreported until the late stages. Some homeowners avoid interacting with lenders out of fear or shame, which delays help and accelerates loss. “By the time they call us,” one foreclosure prevention counselor said, “they’re weeks away from their house going to auction.”