Foreclosure Is Rising in Pennsylvania — What Bucks County and Montgomery County Homeowners Need to Know
By Josh Wernick, REALTOR | Keller Williams Real Estate | 2026 Top Agent, Bucks County and Montgomery County
The National Picture Has Changed
For several years after the pandemic, foreclosure filings stayed artificially low. Federal forbearance programs, moratoriums, and surging home values kept millions of homeowners out of the foreclosure pipeline even when they fell behind. That cushion has largely expired.
In 2025, ATTOM Data Solutions recorded 367,460 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings — a 14 percent increase from 2024 and the highest annual total since forbearance programs wound down. Foreclosure starts hit 289,441, also up 14 percent year over year. Completed bank repossessions rose 27 percent.
By July 2026, the trend was still climbing: monthly filings were up 10 percent compared to July 2025, with completed foreclosures running 23 percent above the prior year. These numbers are still below the catastrophic levels of 2008 and 2009, and ATTOM CEO Rob Barber has noted that activity "remains relatively low by historical standards." That context matters.
But the direction of travel is clear, and the underlying cause is different from the last crisis in ways that directly affect Pennsylvania homeowners.
In 2008, foreclosures were driven by collapsing home values and predatory loan structures. Homeowners were underwater — they owed more than their homes were worth, and selling was not an option. Today's foreclosure wave is driven by affordability pressure, not negative equity. Rates that more than doubled between 2021 and 2023, combined with home prices that never corrected, have left a significant share of buyers who purchased or refinanced in the past few years with payments they can no longer sustain.
The difference is critical: most of these homeowners have equity. That changes everything about their options.
Pennsylvania Is Not Insulated
Pennsylvania ranked third nationally in completed foreclosures in 2025, with 2,975 bank repossessions — behind only Texas and California, both of which have substantially larger housing markets. Philadelphia alone accounted for roughly 1,100 of those REOs, among the highest of any major metro area in the country.
Pennsylvania's overall foreclosure rate in early 2026 ran at approximately one filing per 4,180 housing units — a moderate rate by national comparison, but a real and rising one. The suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia, including Bucks and Montgomery, reflect the same pressure points: homeowners who bought or refinanced at low rates are now facing payment resets, job changes, medical events, and life circumstances that make those payments untenable.
What protects Pennsylvania homeowners — if they act — is the state's legal structure.
Pennsylvania Is a Judicial Foreclosure State — and That Matters
Most homeowners don't know this, but Pennsylvania's foreclosure process is one of the longer ones in the country by design.
The bank cannot hold a sheriff sale without first filing a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas, obtaining a court judgment, and completing a mandatory advertising period. Pennsylvania law also requires the lender to send an Act 91 Notice before filing — informing the homeowner of their right to apply for mortgage assistance through the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency — and to offer a loss mitigation conference under Act 6 in most residential cases.
The result is a timeline that typically runs six to eighteen months from first missed payment to sheriff sale, sometimes longer depending on the court calendar, whether the homeowner files a response, and whether loss mitigation is pursued.
That is not a small window. It is enough time to sell a home at market value, pay off the mortgage, keep the equity, and exit the situation under your own control — if you act when you understand where you are in the process.
The moment you cannot act is the moment the sheriff sale completes and the deed transfers. Until that moment, you own the home and you can sell it.
Bucks County and Montgomery County: The Equity Reality
The foreclosure conversation in suburban Philadelphia looks different from the national average for one specific reason: home values.
Bucks County and Montgomery County have both seen sustained price appreciation over the past several years. Inventory remains constrained across most of the market — from Doylestown and New Hope in Bucks County to the Route 202 corridor and Main Line communities in Montgomery County. Homeowners who purchased five or more years ago, and many who purchased more recently, are sitting on substantial equity even with current market conditions.
That equity is the asset at risk in a completed foreclosure.
Sheriff sales in Bucks County are held monthly in Doylestown at the Court of Common Pleas. Montgomery County sheriff sales are held monthly in Norristown. In both counties, properties at sheriff sale frequently sell below current market value — sheriff sale buyers are investors seeking discounted acquisitions, not buyers competing at market price. The lender recovers its balance, accumulated attorney fees, court costs, and late charges first. What remains for the homeowner is often a fraction of what an open market sale would have produced.
The comparison is not abstract. A Bucks County homeowner with a $400,000 home and a $270,000 mortgage who sells before the sheriff sale might net $95,000 to $105,000 after commissions, transfer tax, and payoff. The same property at a sheriff sale might sell for $310,000 to $330,000, with the bank's full claim — including accumulated costs — consuming most or all of what's left.
The difference between those two outcomes is the difference between keeping your equity and losing it.
What Homeowners Facing Foreclosure in These Counties Can Actually Do
The most important thing a homeowner behind on their mortgage in Bucks or Montgomery County can do right now is understand two numbers: what the home is worth today, and what they owe. Those two numbers determine whether a sale is possible and what it produces. Everything else follows from that.
Pennsylvania law does not prevent a homeowner from selling at any point before the sheriff sale completes. If you have received an Act 91 Notice, been served with a foreclosure complaint, received a judgment, or even been scheduled for a sheriff sale that has not yet occurred — you can still sell. The proceeds pay off the mortgage at closing. Any equity above the payoff and selling costs is yours.
For Bucks County homeowners, a detailed explanation of the sale process and your options is here: Can I Sell My House Before Foreclosure in Pennsylvania
For homeowners specifically in Bucks County: Sell My House Before Foreclosure in Bucks County PA
For homeowners specifically in Montgomery County: Sell My House Before Foreclosure in Montgomery County PA
If you want to understand exactly how long the Pennsylvania process takes and where you are in it: How Long Does Foreclosure Take in Pennsylvania
For the full step-by-step: Pennsylvania Foreclosure Process Step by Step
The Conversation Is Free
If you are a Bucks County or Montgomery County homeowner who has fallen behind on your mortgage, the first step is a confidential 10-minute conversation about what your home is worth and what a sale would produce for you. That conversation costs nothing and obligates you to nothing.
Call or text 267-934-5674. It is not a sales call. It is information — the information you need to make a decision before the timeline makes it for you.
Josh Wernick is a licensed Pennsylvania REALTOR at Keller Williams Real Estate, serving Bucks County, Montgomery County, the Main Line, and Chestnut Hill. He holds PSA, RENE, and Luxury Homes Certified designations and was named 2026 Top Agent for Bucks County and Montgomery County by BestAgents.us.
