Wisconsin’s Pre-Foreclosure Rates Fall Sharply in 2025, But Struggles Persist Beneath the Surface

A Historic Drop in Pre-Foreclosures, but Not All Homeowners Are Breathing Easier

In May 2025, Wisconsin recorded just 134 pre-foreclosure filings — the lowest monthly total in recent memory. It’s a figure that, on the surface, appears to speak to housing stability and economic resilience. Compared to April’s 269 filings, it marks a dramatic 50.18% month-over-month decrease. Year-over-year, Wisconsin saw a 41.74% drop from the 230 filings recorded in May 2024.

Numbers like these suggest that Wisconsin homes are increasingly secure. But beneath this statistical calm is a growing disquiet. Quiet evictions cloaked in rising rents, aging mortgages teetering on variable interest rates, and families clinging to their homes as inflation and uneven wages chip away at financial stability.

“This is the best the numbers have looked in over a decade,” said a housing counselor at a Milwaukee nonprofit, “but we’re also hearing from more people who are just one emergency away from not being able to make their mortgage payment.”

Contextualizing a Long-Term Trend: From Crisis to Quiet

To understand where Wisconsin stands today, it’s necessary to revisit where it has been.

Between 2009 and 2012, the state experienced a crushing foreclosure crisis, with more than 35,000 filings annually and over 38,000 in 2010 alone. The Great Recession and the subsequent housing collapse exposed structural vulnerabilities in the mortgage market. In particular, low-income families and communities of color bore the brunt of aggressive lending practices and limited regulatory oversight.

By contrast, the state began to stabilize in subsequent years. Foreclosures dropped significantly after 2013 and reached historic lows during the COVID-19 pandemic when moratoriums and federal stimulus measures temporarily shielded borrowers from the brink. By 2020, pre-foreclosures in Wisconsin had plummeted to just 2,930, compared to more than ten times that number in 2010.

This downward trajectory continued through 2024, which closed out with only 2,701 pre-foreclosure filings across the state. So far in 2025, just 633 properties have entered the pre-foreclosure process between January and May. If current trends continue, Wisconsin is on pace for fewer than 1,600 pre-foreclosures in the full calendar year — a level not seen since before modern data tracking began.

The Economic Pressure Cooked into These Numbers

But even record-low filing numbers don’t fully capture the hardship unfolding in many Wisconsin households. Mortgage delinquencies may be down, but the underlying pressure points are intensifying — and they’re pressuring the same population historically at greatest risk.

Take Terrence, a 49-year-old father of three from Kenosha, who works full-time at an auto parts distributor. He managed to stay on top of his mortgage through the pandemic with the help of federal relief funds and part-time gig work. But when his wife lost her job last winter and their adjustable-rate mortgage crept up in early 2025, the buffer he had built evaporated.

“We’re not in foreclosure yet,” he said. “But every month feels like a gamble. We’ve stopped buying anything that isn’t essential. I’m scared to open the mail.”

Rising inflation and stagnant wage growth aren’t just numbers on a graph — they turn small financial missteps into runaway crises. Foreclosure filings in the state may be historically low, but housing counselors are raising alarms about what’s not being counted—families skipping meals to make payments, piling up credit card debt, or relying on predatory loans for short-term relief.

Affordability Crisis in Disguise

Across Wisconsin, another, quieter story is unfolding: eviction filings are climbing in some regions, and more residents are renting because home prices have pushed ownership out of reach. In 2023, the average home price jumped nearly 9%, and interest rates continued to rise into early 2025. Many who once aimed for homeownership now find themselves shut out of that dream entirely.

“We don’t see them in foreclosure data because they never got the house in the first place,” explained a housing advocate from Madison. “So instead, they’re loading their paychecks into rent, living with roommates, or stuck in overcrowded homes.”

In this way, plummeting foreclosure numbers don’t necessarily signal broad-based prosperity. They may also point to shifting dynamics in the housing market — where fewer people qualify to buy, and those who do are often doing so under tighter economic constraints.

Additionally, federal forbearance programs have been winding down — meaning delinquent borrowers are now more visible, yet many are still navigating repayment plans brokered during the pandemic.