Foreclosure activity dipped on the month but remained well above 2024 levels: foreclosure starts were down 31.5% from October to 26,000, even as starts, sales and active inventory all stayed more than 20% higher than a year earlier.
Regional performance diverged. ICE’s non‑current rate – combining delinquencies and foreclosures – remained elevated in states such as Louisiana and Mississippi, both close to 9%, while markets including Washington, Idaho and Colorado held closer to the mid‑2% range.
What it meant for lenders and servicers
For lenders and servicers, the November spike underscores the need to separate calendar noise from credit signal.
ICE’s own comparison with prior Sunday month‑ends, together with earlier calendar‑driven blips in August 2025 and December 2023, suggested the latest rise is more timing distortion than systemic stress.
The takeaway for mortgage executives is less about an immediate deterioration in portfolios and more about closely watching December cures, roll rates and regional pockets of stress to see how quickly performance reverts once the calendar effect fades.
