Illinois has quietly turned into ground zero for lenders stepping back into the foreclosure arena, with a noticeable spike in repossession activity rippling through the state. In October 2025, Illinois recorded roughly one foreclosure filing for every 2,570 housing units. Public data show more than 2,100 filings that month and nearly 200 completed repossessions, arriving just as a national rise in filings began to show up. The end of pandemic-era moratoria, combined with pricier borrowing, is now translating into real cases on courthouse dockets.
What the data shows
According to ATTOM, there were 36,766 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in October 2025, an increase of about 19% from a year earlier. In the same report, Illinois logged 2,118 filings and 1,252 foreclosure starts that month, putting the state near the top of the national ranking for foreclosure rate. The dataset also shows that completed foreclosures jumped sharply year over year, a sign that lenders are not just initiating cases, they are also pushing more repossessions through to the finish line.
Why Illinois’ courts make the backlog visible
Illinois requires foreclosures to run through the court system, which means cases often stay active for 12 to 15 months instead of moving quickly through non-judicial sales. That longer journey keeps more filings visible on county dockets at any given time. The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University has documented how this judicial pipeline stacks up filings in public data and can make the backlog look larger than in states that permit non-judicial foreclosures. Legal overviews also describe how mediation and other procedural steps baked into Illinois law can stretch the timeline from initial filing to final sale.
Hot markets, tight supply
The surge is not hitting a uniform housing landscape. Some smaller metros are still fiercely competitive, while other communities are clearly feeling affordability strain. Realtor.com named Rockford the nation’s hottest market in December 2024, with low inventory and quick sales fueling demand even as prices stayed relatively affordable compared with larger metros. Meanwhile, Chicago-area suburbs such as Elmhurst have seen median sold prices in the mid to high hundreds of thousands, a pattern noted in local market reports that can leave owners more exposed when mortgage rates jump.
What’s driving the uptick
Analysts point to a mix of high mortgage rates, rising day-to-day living costs, and tight resale supply, a combination that squeezes household budgets and makes existing loans harder to sustain. Business Insider has highlighted how mortgage rates above 6%, layered on broader cost pressures, can strain borrowers who bought at higher prices or shorter margins. At the same time, ATTOM’s monthly breakdown shows foreclosure starts up roughly 20% year over year and completed foreclosures rising about 32% for October. More homeowners under stress, plus lenders restarting legal action after a long lull, helped push Illinois into the top tier of state foreclosure rates last month.
Legal options and resources…