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67 May 2025 J O U R N A L May 2025 » tened in Q1 2025. Foreclosure auction price demand held steady sequentially at 56.7%, up slightly from 55.9% in Q4 2024, but down from 59% year over year. Monthly performance painted a more precise story of declines in foreclo- sure auction price demand, as the metric fell 2% year over year in January, 4% in February, and 6% in March. REO price demand followed a similar pattern, having risen 3% quar- terly, and 1% annually to 57.9%—but with monthly softening. After starting strong with an 8% year-over-year rise in January, gains flattened in February and turned to a 4% decline in March. Of the 76 markets analyzed, 59% saw annual declines in foreclosure auction price demand in Q1 2025, including: » Chicago, Illinois (down 4%) » New York, New York (down 1%) » Houston, Texas (down 14%) » Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (down 7%) » Dallas, Texas (down 8%) Auction.com found that some bright spots emerged with 41% of markets post- ing year-over-year increases in foreclo- sure auction price demand, led by: » Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (up 57%) » New Orleans, Louisiana (up 7%) » Baton Rouge, Louisiana (up 5%) » Baltimore, Maryland (up 2%) » Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (up 2%) Foreclosure auction completions surged 20% quarter over quarter to their highest level since Q3 in Q4 2024. States reporting the largest annual increases were found in: » Arizona (up 151%) » Utah (up 100%) » New Hampshire (up 80%) » Kansas (up 74%) » Texas (up 73%) Trends among top-volume states were uneven, with Texas, Illinois, and Michigan posting an annual increase, and New York and Ohio posting an annual decrease. Among states with above-100 percent foreclosure auction volume recovery relative to pre-pandemic norms were Connecticut, Colorado, Wyoming, Alas- ka, Louisiana, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kentucky, and Utah. TAX SEASON GIVES MORTGAGE PERFORMANCE A BUMP T he Mortgage Bankers Associ- ation's (MBA) monthly Loan Monitoring Survey for March 2025 revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by two basis points from 0.38% of servicers' portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.36% as of March 31, 2025. According to MBA's estimate, 180,000 homeowners are in forbearance plans, and the nation's mortgage ser- vicers have provided approximately 8.6 million forbearances since March 2020. "Overall mortgage performance im- proved in March, with more borrowers making their mortgage payments and fewer borrowers in forbearance and loan workouts compared to the prior month," said MBA's VP of Industry Analysis Marina Walsh, CMB. "This monthly improvement may be tied to several factors such as receipt of tax refunds and homeowner recovery from natural disasters." The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE) loans in forbearance decreased two basis points from 0.15% to 0.13% in March 2025. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased by one basis point from 0.84% to 0.83%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) decreased four basis points from 0.37% to 0.33%. "The labor market is relatively healthy, which is helping mortgage performance remain strong," Walsh said. "However, compared to one year ago, there are fewer borrowers current on their mortgages. Also, more borrowers "The labor market is relatively healthy, which is helping mortgage performance remain strong.However, compared to one year ago, there are fewer borrowers current on their mortgages. Also, more borrowers in loan workouts—particularly those with FHA loans—are having difficulty staying current." —Matt Layton, SVP of Consumer Analytics, LegalShield