Washington State’s Pre-Foreclosure Landscape: Fewer Filings, But More Families in Crisis

A Slow Decline in Pre-Foreclosures Conceals Deeper Economic Struggles

Every economist knows a graph can’t capture the sound of a child’s swing set rusting in a backyard that’s been marked for foreclosure. Numbers flatten out the reality of lost jobs, strained marriages, and what it feels like to live with the daily threat of losing your home. In Washington State, the latest housing data reveals a modest decline in pre-foreclosure filings, but beneath that decline is the noise of hardship, disproportionately borne by low-income families and those already on the margins.

In September 2024, there were 269 pre-foreclosure properties reported across Washington. That reflects a 4.27% drop from August, when 281 properties were in pre-foreclosure. Compared to the same time last year, the decline is more pronounced, a 6.6% decrease from 288 filings in September 2023. On paper, this might suggest a market stabilizing after years of pandemic shocks and inflation spikes. But these moderate gains mask the larger truth: the struggle isn’t receding, it’s simply shifting.

A Bird’s-Eye View: Decade-Long Declines Meet Persistent Vulnerability

To understand how we arrived at this point, it helps to look at the long arc. Washington experienced its worst housing distress during the fallout of the Great Recession in 2010, the state recorded over 52,000 pre-foreclosure filings. Since then, filings have generally ticked downward annually, bottoming out at just 1,191 in 2021. That plunge was largely attributed to pandemic-era moratoriums and emergency assistance programs.

But the downward trend didn’t last. By 2022, filings began to inch upward again, with 3,869 for the year, followed by a modest retraction in 2023 with 3,494 recorded filings. So far, through the first nine months of 2024, Washington state has seen 2,527 pre-foreclosure filings which puts it on track to modestly outpace last year if current trends continue.

It’s a pattern housing experts say is becoming familiar in the post-pandemic economy with moderate overall filings, but alarming distress pockets within low-income communities where housing costs have soared faster than wages and inflation-backed interest rates continue to wall off new options.

The People Behind the Percentages

Pre-foreclosure is a bureaucratic term with human consequences. Often it starts with a lost job or an unexpected medical bill, then missed payments follow, and before long, a notice arrives that the home is at risk.

In Renton, just outside Seattle, 49-year-old Maria Ramirez received that notice two weeks ago. She’s a certified nursing assistant who took unpaid leave to care for her husband, recently diagnosed with lung cancer. She missed two mortgage payments. Now she’s juggling collection calls and doctors’ appointments, praying for a payment deferral.

“I was never late on anything until this year,” Maria said. “We bought our house in 2015 when it was still manageable. But now… I don’t know. Everything’s gone up. Groceries, gas, even the electricity.”

Her story illustrates the fragile line many working-class families now walk. According to the Washington State Employment Security Department, while unemployment remains relatively low overall, many jobs in service, eldercare, and trades still lag in post-pandemic recovery. For households already spending more than 50% of their income on housing, even a short-term disruption can spell disaster.

Missing Homes: Where’s the Local Picture?

One unsettling aspect of Washington’s housing crisis is how little we know about where it’s most acute. The current pre-foreclosure data is aggregated at the state level, meaning we don’t have clarity on which counties or cities are facing the heaviest burdens. That opacity makes it harder for local governments and nonprofits to deploy resources where they’re needed most.

But based on past trends, experts suggest that dense urban areas like King and Pierce Counties, already grappling with rapidly rising housing costs, are likely hotspots, with lower-income neighborhoods in Yakima, Spokane, and parts of Tacoma seeing higher concentrations of pre-foreclosure activity.

“Housing stress is not evenly distributed,” said Linda Nguyen, a housing advocate with a regional nonprofit in Tacoma. “It affects our communities of color, our seniors, and our essential workers. These are the same people whose income hasn’t kept up with the cost of living for the past decade.”