Low wages, rising unemployment, and increases in the cost of living are contributing to greater delinquency on mortgage loan payments and home foreclosures across the United States.
Across rural, suburban, and inner-city areas, working families are losing their homes. An April report from ATTOM, a statistics agency that collects property data, shows that in the first quarter of 2026 a total of 82,631 US properties started the foreclosure process, up 7% from the previous quarter and 20% from the previous year.
Delinquency on mortgage loan payments for homes is also reported to be increasing. The Mortgage Bankers Association found that the number of homeowners missing payments on their home loans increased at a rate of 4.44% in the first quarter of 2026.
Delinquent debt rose to 4.8% across all consumer debts, the highest since 2017. And for the first time in more than a decade, the national average credit score dipped last year, according to data from Experian, one of the three major US credit bureaus.
The increasing weight of debt on the working class not only holds many down and subjects them to all sorts of predatory fees, but it also shows signs of an economy increasingly strained and parasitic. Total US household debt has climbed to a record $18.79 trillion at the start of 2026.
These are the manifestations of what bourgeois economists call a “K-shaped economy”: the wealthiest monopolists are able to spend confidently and receive high profits, while almost everyone else faces declining job prospects and lower wages amid increasing inflation. According to Moody’s Analytics, the top 10% of households were found to be responsible for nearly half of all spending in 2025.
Bourgeois economists anticipate these trends will continue, claiming that inflation will peak at 4.5% over the summer. The annual inflation rate reached 4.2% in May, its highest level since April 2023. Since 2020, prices have increased by almost 30%, recently exacerbated by US imperialism’s predatory war against Iran and the people of the region.
The Trump administration diverts billions of dollars in tax cuts to the richest monopolists while slashing social programs, including programs that support first-time home buyers.
Image: A foreclosure sign in Annapolis, Maryland. Credit: The U.S. National Archives.
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