The number of Americans falling behind on their homeowners association (HOA) payments has risen sharply over the past three years as fees have steadily climbed, according to a new study, increasing the risk of these owners losing their properties. Nationally, HOA liens—a legal notice that says a homeowner owes money to their homeowners association and must repay it before the home can usually be sold—rose 41.7 percent between 2022 and 2025, new research by property data platform Cotality found. Three years ago, there were 177,260 HOA liens across the country.
Last year, they reached 250,951. HOA dues can run into hundreds of dollars a month, Cotality’s Chief Economist Dr. Selma Hepp noted, enough on their own to tip a household budget into the red once stacked against rising insurance and taxes.
But homeowners normally do not consider HOA dues a priority, putting mortgages and utilities first when their disposable income is squeezed to prevent bank foreclosure and keep the lights on. In doing so, they undermine the importance of HOA fees, which can remain unpaid when a household budget is tight. HOA fees are the payment homeowners make to a homeowners association (HOA), a private, legally-incorporated organization that manages a residential community, subdivision, or condominium building, collecting dues, arranging repairs, keeping up the amenities, and enforcing rules for property upkeep and more.
If a homeowner buys a property in a HOA community, they are legally required to pay HOA fees, which normally range from $200 to $400 monthly. Condos and townhomes are more likely to have HOA fees attached than single-family homes; similarly, new construction is more likely to have HOAs than older, existing homes. But the share of homes for sale with HOA fees attached have become more common in recent years.
Homes with HOA fees attached used to be a minority in the U.S. housing market, but that is no longer the case. According to a January report from Realtor.com, nearly 44 percent of homes for sale across the country were subject to a monthly HOA fee in 2026, up from only 34.3 percent in 2019. Within the same period, the median HOA fee went from $108 in 2019 to $135 in 2026.
The share of homes without HOA fees attached (known as ‘non-HOA’ or ‘HOA-free’ homes) was 43.6 percent this year, up from 41.9 percent last year and 34.3 percent in 2019. If a homeowner does not pay their HOA dues, the association can file paperwork that turns the debt into a claim against their home, a lien. That does not mean the homeowner immediately loses their house.
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