Economy • Housing • Heard on the Street

A Federal Housing Handout Has Ended. Foreclosures Will Follow.

A Biden-era program that prevented distressed borrowers from losing their homes has been rolled back

By Carol Ryan
May 3, 2026 7:00 pm ET

https://images.wsj.net/im-4162303.jog
A coming wave of foreclosures and forced home sales might be bad news for U.S. home prices George Walker IV/Associated Press
A generous Biden-era subsidy that helped people who fell behind on their mortgage stay in their homes was recently scaled back. A jump in foreclosures is an early sign of the fallout.

The number of U.S. homes with foreclosure filings rose 28% in March compared with a year ago, data from Attom shows. Foreclosures are still below 2019 levels, but probably not for long.

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