Cash-strapped home shoppers desperate for a deal might ponder buying a home in foreclosure. These homes, which lenders have repossessed due to owners defaulting on their mortgage, often sell for bargain prices.
Yet lately, these deals have been harder to find.
In 2010, following the 2008 financial crisis, there were more than 2.8 million foreclosures. This year, there were fewer than 358,000.
That’s thanks in large part to pandemic-related payment assistance programs like the Homeowner Assitance Fund, which provides grants to homeowners who are facing a COVID-19-related hardship. In 2021, a government-backed foreclosure moratorium saw foreclosures dipping as low as 151,153, or 0.3% of the national housing stock.
As those programs come to an end—the HAF is set to expire in 2026—there’s been a slight increase in the number of foreclosures. But all in all, foreclosed homes have become much more of a rarity of late.