Foreclosures are rising in Idaho. What’s it mean for homeowners?

Year-over-year foreclosure filings across Idaho nearly doubled in October as homeowners grapple with the mounting costs of unaffordable homes.

Lenders filed to foreclose on 206 properties statewide last month, according to the real estate data firm Attom, a 94% jump from October 2024. That is the third-largest increase in America over the period, trailing only Colorado and Alaska.

Overall, Idaho had the 13th highest rate of foreclosure starts among the 50 states in October, with one foreclosure for every 3,770 properties, Attom said, slightly worse than the national average of one in every 3,781. Nationwide, foreclosure starts have risen for eight straight months, according to an Attom report.

The numbers remain historically low. During the height of the Great Recession 2.2% of all homes nationwide were in foreclosure proceedings – about one of every 44. Idaho foreclosures boomed during the recession, too, but have broadly stabilized in the years since, hitting historic lows during the federal moratorium on foreclosures instituted during the pandemic, Attom CEO Rob Barber told the Statesman.

“In recent years, foreclosure totals [in Idaho] have edged up slightly but continue to remain modest and far below both past peaks and the broader national pace of increase,” Barber said in an email to the Statesman.

But the geographic spread of foreclosure filings points to widespread pressure on homeowners, according to Attom Marketing Manager Megan Hunt.

“This mix of states across the Southeast, Midwest, and West suggests that rising foreclosure activity is not confined to a single region but instead reflects broader affordability challenges, higher borrowing costs, and ongoing financial strain for some homeowners nationwide,” Hunt wrote in the report.

Idaho significantly outpaced the 19% national year-over-year increase. Washington, Gooding and Gem counties saw the highest rates of foreclosure starts in October, but the raw numbers are small: six, four and five, respectively. Ada County had 45 properties in foreclosure, about double the same time in 2024. Canyon County had 27, up from 19.

It remains to be seen whether last month’s acceleration in foreclosures is a worrying sign.

“Over the past 18-plus months, Idaho foreclosure filings have stayed in a relatively tight range, generally between the mid-80s and about 150 per month,” Barber told the Statesman in an email. “October’s jump to 206 breaks that pattern and doesn’t follow the established trend, suggesting it may be an anomaly, and we’ll have to see what the coming months reveal.”

Attom’s data includes all properties, commercial and residential, though Barber said in the report that much of the momentum comes from homeowners.

Homeownership out of reach for many households

While the gap has been slightly shrinking, homes remain out of reach for middle-market buyers nationwide, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which compiles housing market data for the Federal Reserve System.

The Boise metro area maps closely to the national trend. In September, a household making the median income for the area spanning Ada, Canyon, Boise, Gem and Owyhee counties would have to spend 44% of its monthly pay to buy a median priced house, factoring in principal and interest payments, taxes, homeowners insurance and private mortgage insurance, according to the Fed. That is pretty close to the national average of 43%, but well above the recommended 30% expense that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers affordable to spend on housing. By that standard, the last time the Boise area could be deemed affordable was December 2020.

Of the 13 metropolitan and micropolitan regions the Fed identifies in Idaho, the Hailey region – comprising Blaine, Camas and Lincoln counties – is the least affordable. There, a household making the median income would have to spend 95% of its take-home pay to afford a median home, which falls around $1 million.

The figure has actually improved over the past 18 months: At its peak in March 2024, a mid-priced house cost 1.5 times what the median wage paid a household each month.

At the Boise area’s worst in October 2022, a median priced home commanded a 52% share of a median household income. The improved ratio has to do with prices leveling as well as wages rising in the past two years. While the median home price slipped from $487,000 to $484,839 in that window, the median household wage rose steeply, jumping from $81,350 to $93,066.