Fearless at foreclosure auction

More than 20% of properties bought at foreclosure auctions are purchased by owner-occupant buyers, including first-time homebuyers seeking affordable housing. Hannah Joslin described buying a Fort Worth, Texas home at a foreclosure auction as her first home and the place she would bring her baby home to. Buyer survey results and matched foreclosure auction sales data show an increasing share of owner-occupant buyers over time. In February 2026, 18% of Auction.com buyers surveyed identified as owner-occupant, down from a 26% peak the prior year but trending upward since 2022. Sales data for 2025 indicate 27% of properties not yet resold are owner-occupied, compared with 20% across 2015–2025, rising from 12% in 2015 to 29% in 2021.

"More than 20% of properties purchased at foreclosure auction are going to owner-occupant buyers, including first-time homebuyers eager to find affordable housing options. This will be the house we get to bring our baby home to, said Hannah Joslin, referring to a Fort Worth, Texas, property she and her husband purchased at foreclosure auction in Tarrant County in March 2026. I was tearing up because this is my first home."

"Buyer survey data and foreclosure auction sales data, when matched to public record tax assessor data, show an increasing share of owner-occupant foreclosure auction buyers like Joslin and her husband. Owner-occupant activity at foreclosure auctions has climbed steadily, reaching new highs in 2025. Eighteen percent of Auction.com buyers described themselves as owner-occupant buyers in a survey of more than 400 buyers in February 2026."

"That was down from a peak of 26% in the previous year, but the owner-occupant share of survey respondents has been steadily trending higher since 8% in 2022, the first time the buyer survey was conducted. An analysis of Auction.com foreclosure auction sales data in 2025, matched against public record tax assessor data which includes owner-occupancy status shows that 27% of the properties that have not been resold by the auction buyer are owner-occupied."

"The percentage is 20% for all foreclosure auction purchases from 2015 through 2025. This suggests that about one in five properties purchased at a foreclosure auction is occupied by the buyer. Consistent with the Auction.com survey data, the public record-based owner-occupancy share has increased over time, from a low of 12% for 2015 purchases to a peak of 29% for 2021 purchases at the height of the pandemic housing boom and the low in home affordability."

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