North Carolina Foreclosure Filings Rose 22.5% in 2025. Did Your Sale Leave a Surplus?
September 2026: first published, using the 2025 county and statewide filing counts as compiled by the Administrative Office of the Courts on January 7, 2026.
North Carolina courts recorded 13,245 foreclosure filings in 2025, up 22.5 percent from 10,816 in 2024. A filing is not a completed sale, and whether an individual sale left surplus money is shown in the final report and account filed with the clerk under N.C.G.S. 45-21.33, not in the statewide totals.
If you lost a home at a North Carolina foreclosure sale, the number that matters is not 13,245. It is the number on the last page of your own sale file.
The state court system publishes a county-by-county count of foreclosure filings every year, and the 2025 report shows filings turning back up after a down year, to their highest annual total since 2019. That is a real change in foreclosure activity, though the report itself does not say what caused it. It is also not, by itself, a story about money owed to you. So this article separates the two: what the 2025 numbers say, what they cannot say, and the one document that answers the question for your address.
At a glance
- 75 of North Carolina's 100 counties recorded more foreclosure filings in 2025 than in 2024. Twenty-two recorded fewer and three were unchanged.
- 2025 was the busiest filing year since 2019, and it still came in 33.5 percent below 2019.
- Mecklenburg County led every county with 1,182 filings, a rise of 36.2 percent over 2024.
- The report counts cases by filing date. It carries no sale prices, no payoff amounts, and no dollar figures of any kind.
- Surplus paid to a clerk of superior court is sorted out through a special proceeding, and the statute lets any person claiming the money start one.
How many foreclosure cases were filed in North Carolina in 2025?
North Carolina courts recorded 13,245 civil cases with a home or business foreclosure filing in 2025, compared with 10,816 in 2024. That is 2,429 more filings, an increase of 22.5 percent.
According to the Foreclosure Filings report, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, data through December 31, 2025, compiled January 7, 2026.
A 22.5 percent jump in one year is worth paying attention to. The longer view keeps it in proportion.
| Year | Filings statewide |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 19,904 |
| 2020 | 8,302 |
| 2021 | 5,439 |
| 2022 | 11,672 |
| 2023 | 12,415 |
| 2024 | 10,816 |
| 2025 | 13,245 |
So 2025 was the highest annual total since 2019, and it still came in a third below 2019 and nowhere near the 66,274 filings of 2010, the peak of the twenty years this report covers. What changed is direction. Filings fell in 2024, then turned back up.
Which counties had the most foreclosure filings in 2025?
Mecklenburg County recorded the most foreclosure filings of any North Carolina county in 2025 with 1,182, followed by Wake with 975 and Guilford with 813. Seventy-five counties recorded more filings than in 2024.
According to the Foreclosure Filings report, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, data through December 31, 2025, compiled January 7, 2026.
| County | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mecklenburg | 868 | 1,182 | +36.2% |
| Wake | 839 | 975 | +16.2% |
| Guilford | 706 | 813 | +15.2% |
| Jackson | 210 | 611 | +191.0% |
| Cumberland | 287 | 531 | +85.0% |
| Forsyth | 388 | 427 | +10.1% |
| Onslow | 159 | 352 | +121.4% |
| Johnston | 296 | 344 | +16.2% |
| Gaston | 269 | 320 | +19.0% |
| Durham | 254 | 289 | +13.8% |
Filing activity is concentrated. The ten counties above ran in the 289 to 1,182 range and together accounted for 44.1 percent of every foreclosure filing in the state, while 38 counties recorded fewer than 50 all year and the median county recorded 67.
Two counties moved much harder than the rest. Jackson County went from 210 filings to 611, and Onslow County went from 159 to 352. Those are raw counts and nothing more. The report does not explain why a county moves, and neither will we without evidence that is actually in the file.
Does a foreclosure filing mean the property was sold?
No. The report counts civil cases in which a foreclosure was filed, by filing date, and the Administrative Office of the Courts states that it does not display the number of foreclosures granted. A power of sale case begins when a notice of hearing is filed with the clerk, which is well before any sale.
According to the Foreclosure Filings report and the Foreclosures help topic, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, as of September 2026.
That gap between filing and sale is where most of the confusion lives. A case gets counted the day it starts. Then the borrower may reinstate the loan, the servicer may approve a modification, the clerk may deny the request, the lender may cancel the sale, or the case may end in bankruptcy. The Judicial Branch says plainly that a borrower may be able to negotiate a resolution at any time until the sale is final.
So a county with 611 filings did not have 611 sales. It had 611 cases begin.
Do more filings mean more surplus money is waiting?
The filing report carries no dollar figures and no sale results, so it cannot show whether surplus balances rose in any county. It records only how many foreclosure cases were filed, by county and by month.
According to the Foreclosure Filings report, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, data through December 31, 2025.
This matters because the surplus funds field attracts a lot of people who work backward from a headline. A rising filing count in your county tells you more foreclosure cases started there. It does not tell you that more money is sitting with the clerk, and honestly, anyone quoting these numbers as proof that funds are waiting for you is reading something that is not in the file.
Here is what does create a surplus. A property sells at the foreclosure sale for more than the total of the sale costs, the unpaid taxes and assessments, and the debt secured by the deed of trust. The upset bid period is one reason the final number can land above the opening bid. The Judicial Branch describes it this way: once the sale is conducted, other bidders have ten days to place a higher bid, and each new upset bid starts another ten-day period running. A property that opened near the payoff amount can finish above it.
That is a fact about one property on one day. It is not a fact about a county.
How do you find out whether your foreclosure sale left a surplus?
The person who held a power of sale foreclosure must file a final report and account of receipts and disbursements with the clerk of superior court in the county of sale within 30 days after receiving the sale proceeds, and the clerk audits and records it. That filed account shows what the sale brought in and what was paid out.
According to N.C.G.S. 45-21.33, North Carolina General Assembly, as of September 2026.
Most articles about surplus funds send you to a statewide database. That is the wrong first stop for a foreclosure surplus, because the money does not begin there. Where the person who held the sale knows who is entitled to a surplus, N.C.G.S. 45-21.31(b) has it paid to that person directly. It goes to the clerk of superior court in the county of sale where entitlement is uncertain, the entitled people cannot be located, adverse claims are asserted, or the owner has died with no qualified personal representative. Either way, it is tied to one case in one county.
The final report and account is the starting document. It shows what the sale took in, what was paid out, and whether the secured debt was satisfied in whole or only in part. Who is entitled to anything left over can still turn on the clerk's record and on competing claims.
Four things make that lookup possible:
- The county where the property sat. Surplus follows the sale, so it stays in that county's court file.
- The foreclosure file number. It is usually printed on the notice of hearing and on any letter the trustee sent you.
- The final report and account filed by the trustee or substitute trustee after the sale.
- The clerk's own record of whether surplus was paid in and is still being held.
Here is an illustration with round numbers, not figures from any real file. A sale brings $250,000. Sale costs, unpaid taxes, and the balance owed on the deed of trust come to $220,000. That leaves $30,000. Whether that $30,000 goes to the former owner in full depends on who else has a claim against it, which is the next question.
Who gets paid before a surplus exists, and who can claim what is left?
Sale proceeds are applied in statutory order: costs and expenses of the sale, then unpaid taxes, then unpaid special assessments, then the obligation secured by the deed of trust. Any surplus goes to the person entitled to it, or to the clerk of superior court where ownership is unclear or adverse claims are asserted.
According to N.C.G.S. 45-21.31, North Carolina General Assembly, as of September 2026.
Once the money reaches the clerk, ownership of it is decided in a special proceeding. The statute is unusually open about who may start one: a special proceeding may be instituted before the clerk by any person claiming the money or any part of it. Everyone else who has filed notice of a claim, or who is known to assert one, is made a party. If an answer raises a factual dispute about ownership, the matter moves to the superior court civil issue docket for trial.
According to N.C.G.S. 45-21.32, North Carolina General Assembly, as of September 2026.
So the statute does not require you to hire anyone. What it requires is a proceeding that identifies and joins the people who have filed notice of a claim or are known to assert one, and serves them. In practice, working out who those people are means going through the property and court records before anything gets filed. Second mortgages, judgment liens, tax liens, and an estate that was never opened all change who is paid and in what order. Our overview of how to claim surplus funds in North Carolina walks through the steps in detail.
If someone has already contacted you offering to find or collect the money for a percentage, read how surplus funds finders operate before you sign anything. Have a North Carolina attorney look at the fee, the assignment language, and what the agreement does to your claim.
What if the house has not been sold yet?
A homeowner facing an active foreclosure should pursue loss mitigation rather than plan around a possible surplus. The Judicial Branch points borrowers to their mortgage servicer, HUD-approved housing counseling agencies, the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, and Legal Aid of North Carolina.
According to the Foreclosures help topic, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, as of September 2026.
These two situations get mixed together constantly, and they call for opposite things. Surplus funds are a question for someone whose sale has already happened. If your sale has not happened, the money is still theoretical and the house is not.
The Judicial Branch lists Legal Aid of North Carolina at 1-866-219-5262 and the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, administered by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, at 1-888-442-8188. It also notes that in many cases a lender must send a pre-foreclosure notice at least 45 days before filing, so the letter you received may predate anything in this year's count.
Frequently asked questions
How many foreclosures were filed in North Carolina in 2025?
North Carolina courts recorded 13,245 civil cases with a home or business foreclosure filing in 2025, up from 10,816 in 2024. That is an increase of 2,429 filings, or 22.5 percent, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts report compiled January 7, 2026.
Which North Carolina county had the most foreclosure filings in 2025?
Mecklenburg County, with 1,182 filings, ahead of Wake with 975 and Guilford with 813. Mecklenburg's count rose 36.2 percent over 2024. The ten highest-volume counties accounted for 44.1 percent of all filings statewide.
Is 2025 the worst foreclosure year North Carolina has had?
No. 2025 was the highest year since 2019, but it was 33.5 percent below the 19,904 filings recorded in 2019 and far below the 66,274 recorded in 2010, the peak of the twenty years this report covers.
Does the state report show how much surplus money is being held?
No. The report contains filing counts by county and month and no dollar amounts at all. Surplus balances appear in individual court files, not in this dataset.
Where is a foreclosure surplus held in North Carolina?
With the clerk of superior court in the county where the sale was held, in the cases described in N.C.G.S. 45-21.31, including when the person conducting the sale cannot locate the people entitled to the money or is in doubt about who they are.
Who can file to claim a foreclosure surplus?
Under N.C.G.S. 45-21.32, a special proceeding may be instituted before the clerk by any person claiming the money or part of it. Other people known to claim the same money are made parties to that proceeding.
How soon after a foreclosure sale is the accounting filed?
Within 30 days after the person who held the sale receives the proceeds. N.C.G.S. 45-21.33 requires a final report and account of receipts and disbursements, and the clerk audits and records it.
Was a North Carolina property you owned sold at foreclosure?
We can look at the county, the file, and the accounting, and tell you what the record actually shows before you sign anything with anyone. If we can be of assistance to you, please reach out to us at 919-647-9599, or request a free claim review.
About the firm
Surplus Funds Attorney is the foreclosure surplus funds practice of The Walls Law Group, founded and led by Jason Walls, J.D. (Campbell University School of Law, undergraduate at North Carolina State University), North Carolina State Bar No. 34274, admitted August 25, 2005, and a member of WealthCounsel. We handle surplus funds petitions before clerks of superior court across North Carolina, including for former owners who have moved out of state. Our office is at 5511 Capital Center Drive, Suite 180, Raleigh, NC 27606.
Sources
- Foreclosure Filings, North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. nccourts.gov. County and statewide counts by filing date through December 31, 2025, compiled January 7, 2026.
- Foreclosures help topic, North Carolina Judicial Branch. nccourts.gov.
- N.C.G.S. 45-21.31, Disposition of proceeds of sale; payment of surplus to clerk.
- N.C.G.S. 45-21.32, Special proceeding to determine ownership of surplus.
- N.C.G.S. 45-21.33, Final report of sale of real property.
Legal disclaimer: This article provides general information about surplus funds law in North Carolina. It is not legal advice. Every case is different and results depend on the specific facts and circumstances. Reading this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your situation, contact a licensed North Carolina attorney.
