Wisconsin’s Rising Pre-Foreclosure Numbers in 2024 Reflect Economic Pressure on Homeowners

A Slow-Burning Crisis: Behind the Data on Wisconsin’s Pre-Foreclosure Jump

In places like Wisconsin, where the housing market is quieter and the stories of distress less sensational than the booming coasts, it can be easy to overlook the slow, painful drip of economic hardship. But the data from September 2024 offers a stark reminder: the housing pressures Americans feel on the national level are gripping homeowners across the Midwest too—and increasingly so.

According to recent numbers, Wisconsin recorded 236 pre-foreclosure filings in September 2024. That’s a startling 69.78% increase compared to just one month earlier, in August, when there were 139 filings. Compared to the same time last year, though, the picture changes: September 2024 was down 20.27% from September 2023’s total of 296 filings. Month-to-month, the spike is worrying. Year-over-year, it appears moderated. But real people exist between the arithmetic.

“We’re Just Trying to Stay in Our Home”

For Alyssa and Mark, a couple in their early 40s living just outside Green Bay, the jump in pre-foreclosures is no abstraction—they’re part of this month’s count. After Mark’s hours were cut at the auto parts manufacturer where he’s worked for over a decade, their household income no longer matched rising monthly expenses. Groceries cost more than they ever have, childcare has become unaffordable, and the adjustable rate on their mortgage which seemed manageable when they refinanced in 2021 is now strangling their budget.

“We missed a mortgage payment for the first time in our lives,” Alyssa said, tears welling as she held her 4-year-old daughter. “We’re not looking for charity. We’re just trying to stay in our home.”

The couple’s story echoes across Wisconsin, where pre-foreclosure involves not just a legal filing, but often a quiet unraveling of household stability. Technically, a property enters pre-foreclosure when the homeowner falls behind on mortgage payments and receives a notice of default. It’s a warning shot, not yet an eviction. But for families like Alyssa and Mark’s, it can feel like the beginning of the end.

What the Numbers Say About 2024 So Far

Zooming out from September’s spike, the broader data for Wisconsin tells a more nuanced story—and perhaps, a cautionary one. From January through September 2024, the state saw 1,256 pre-foreclosure filings. If filings continue at the pace they did in September (236 cases), Wisconsin could approach or even surpass 2,000 filings by year’s end. That would be the state’s highest annual total since 2022, when 4,818 filings were reported, though still far from the post-recession peaks of 2009–2012, when some years saw over 35,000 filings.

Yet those raw numbers obscure how ground-level conditions are evolving in 2024. Inflation remains stubborn, hovering near 4%, despite aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Unemployment in Wisconsin, previously among the lowest in the country, has ticked upward in vulnerable industries like manufacturing and food service. And while home values in many markets have stabilized, high interest rates have locked homeowners into older mortgages with less flexibility. The result: fewer refinancing lifelines and more late payment notices.

The Invisible Geography of Housing Stress

While the available data doesn’t offer a breakdown by county or city, anecdotal accounts and historic trends suggest that the state’s most distressed homeowners are often clustered in lower-income urban neighborhoods—Milwaukee’s north side comes to mind—or in rural counties where job opportunities are diminishing and services even scarcer.

In these places, pre-foreclosure is not just a bureaucratic step; it’s a cascade. Once homeowners fall behind, they’re more likely to delay utilities, skip health care appointments, or send their kids to school hungry. Pre-foreclosure, in other words, is often a symptom of broader financial unraveling.

According to social workers at local nonprofit housing agencies in Wisconsin, demand for foreclosure counseling has surged in recent months, echoing the troubling September numbers. Many homeowners are reporting they thought their pandemic forbearances or loan modifications had solved the issue, only to discover that balloon payments or higher interest rates had quietly crept into their agreements.