St. Joseph County, Indiana Court Filings Intelligence
Live court-record analysis of property-related filings (foreclosure, probate, divorce, partition, guardianship). Data sourced direct from St. Joseph County court dockets. Updated 2026-06-04. See methodology.
Most recent filing in this dataset: 2026-06-04. Dataset refreshes nightly; report regenerates monthly.
- Filing volume accelerating (+126.9%) — last 2 complete months (59 filings) vs prior 2 complete months (26 filings). Excludes the current calendar month (in progress).
- 35.2% off-site owners — share of filings where the owner's mailing address differs from the property address. Could be out-of-state landlords, inherited estates, second homes, or in-transition properties (we don't distinguish; the underlying signal is "not living there").
- Max gross cap rate 6.1% at HUD Fair Market Rent — $15,504/year (2BR FMR × 12) on the $253,187 median estimated market value. Section-8-eligible rent ceiling; real-market rent typically exceeds FMR; excludes operating costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management).
- 58.0% of filings are Divorce — the dominant lead category in St. Joseph County during the observed window.
About St. Joseph County
St. Joseph County, colloquially called St. Joe County by residents, is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 272,912, making it the fifth-most populous county in Indiana. Formed in 1830, it was named for the St. Joseph River which flows through it to Lake Michigan. The county seat is South Bend. St. Joseph County is part of the "Michiana" region and the South Bend – Mishawaka metropolitan area.
Source: Wikipedia
At a glance
88 verified property-related court filings tracked across 5 months (Feb 2026 to Jun 2026).
21 typical monthly filing volume.
35% of filings involve owners whose mailing address differs from the property address (31 of 88 filings).
$253,187 median estimated property value across the 85 filings with property-enrichment data (97% coverage).
2.8% Indiana unemployment rate (BLS, as of 2026-04). Filings should be read against the local-economy backdrop.
Filing type breakdown
| Filing type | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Divorce | 51 | 58.0% |
| Pre-Foreclosure | 29 | 33.0% |
| Probate | 8 | 9.1% |
Each row is a distinct case verified for current owner-of-record before inclusion.
Monthly filing activity
| Month | Filings | vs prior |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2026 | 8 | |
| Mar 2026 | 18 | +10 |
| Apr 2026 | 31 | +13 |
| May 2026 | 28 | -3 |
| Jun 2026 | 3 | -25 |
Each row reflects new filings entering the dataset that month, after ownership verification. Most recent month may be partial.
Geographic concentration by ZIP
Top 10 ZIPs in St. Joseph County account for 86.4% of all tracked filings, showing where distressed real estate activity clusters.
| ZIP | City | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46530 | Granger | 14 | 15.9% |
| 46544 | Mishawaka | 13 | 14.8% |
| 46614 | South Bend | 9 | 10.2% |
| 46628 | South Bend | 9 | 10.2% |
| 46561 | Osceola | 8 | 9.1% |
| 46637 | South Bend | 8 | 9.1% |
| 46545 | Mishawaka | 5 | 5.7% |
| 46619 | South Bend | 4 | 4.5% |
| 46617 | South Bend | 3 | 3.4% |
| 46554 | North Liberty | 3 | 3.4% |
Based on filings with a parseable property address (99% of St. Joseph County filings).
Property value distribution
| Estimated value | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| $75k - $150k | 8 | 9.4% |
| $150k - $250k | 32 | 37.6% |
| $250k - $400k | 35 | 41.2% |
| $400k+ | 10 | 11.8% |
Source: third-party property enrichment (97% coverage on St. Joseph County filings). Median $253,187; mean $268,406.
Day-of-week filing pattern
| Day | Filings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | 0 | 0.0% |
| Mon | 9 | 10.2% |
| Tue | 17 | 19.3% |
| Wed | 27 | 30.7% |
| Thu | 20 | 22.7% |
| Fri | 14 | 15.9% |
| Sat | 1 | 1.1% |
Filings cluster Monday through Friday, with weekend filings essentially absent (court system closed). Computed for 88 filings with a parseable date.
Case lifecycle (foreclosure)
Median time between key court-process milestones, computed from docket-entry timestamps on the 29 cases with documented filing-event data:
| Milestone | Median days | Sample size |
|---|---|---|
| Complaint filed → summons served | 13 days | 25 cases |
| Complaint filed → judgment | 92 days | 1 cases |
Source: court docket entries. Only foreclosure cases under active monitoring are tracked through milestones. Cases without a documented filing or service event are excluded from this calculation.
Housing stock + distress signals
Underlying housing stock and distress indicators across all 118329 St. Joseph County housing units, from US Census ACS 5-year data. National reference values shown for context.
| Indicator | St. Joseph County | US average |
|---|---|---|
| Vacancy rate (incl. seasonal + for-sale) | 9.6% | 10.5% |
| Share of owner-occupied units carrying a mortgage | 61.3% | 60.8% |
| Pre-1940 housing stock | 18.2% | 12.3% |
| Single-family detached share of housing stock | 74.3% | 61.2% |
| Residents age 65 or older | 16.5% | 17.3% |
Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS 2023 5-year). National reference values are ACS 2022 5-year US totals. Why these matter: vacancy rate is the strongest single proxy for distressed inventory; mortgage-carrying share defines the risk pool exposed to rate environment; pre-1940 stock signals deferred maintenance and renovation opportunity; senior population correlates with probate pipeline depth.
Rent benchmark (HUD Fair Market Rent)
HUD sets Fair Market Rents at the metro area level — the same FMRs apply to every county within the metro. St. Joseph County sits within the South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI. Used to set Section 8 voucher amounts; investors use it as a defensible rent-estimate floor for buy-to-rent underwriting.
| Unit size | Fair market rent / month |
|---|---|
| Efficiency / studio | $898 |
| 1-bedroom | $1,105 |
| 2-bedroom | $1,292 |
| 3-bedroom | $1,567 |
| 4-bedroom | $1,711 |
Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents (None). 40th-percentile gross rent including utilities. Why this matters: Section-8-eligible tenants are a baseline demand floor for rental inventory at these price points; FMR is the official ceiling for voucher-eligible rents.
New construction (market momentum)
Annual building permits filed in St. Joseph County from the US Census Building Permits Survey. Trend signal on whether new housing demand is accelerating or contracting in this market.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Total housing units permitted (2025) | 611 |
| Year-over-year change (2024 → 2025) | -18.8% |
| Single-family share of permits (2025) | 61.7% |
| Single-family units permitted | 377 |
| Multifamily units permitted (2+ units per building) | 234 |
Source: US Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, annual cumulative data. Why this matters: permits trending up signals strong demand for new inventory; permits contracting at the same time foreclosure activity rises indicates broader market softening (deals price differently). Multifamily share shows whether the market is densifying or holding to single-family stock.
Macro context: state home prices and national delinquency
St. Joseph County filings should be read against the broader housing-market backdrop. Indiana state home-price trend and the national mortgage-delinquency rate are the two macro signals most directly relevant to foreclosure exposure.
| Indicator | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Indiana home price index (year-over-year) | +4.3% | 2026-01-01 |
| Indiana home price index (cumulative since 2020) | +64.9% | 2026-01-01 |
| National mortgage delinquency rate (30+ day, single-family) | 1.89% | 2026-01-01 |
Sources: Federal Housing Finance Agency state house price indices (FRED series INSTHPI); Federal Reserve Board, Mortgage Delinquency 30+Day Rate on Single-Family Residential Mortgages (FRED series DRSFRMACBS). Updated quarterly. Free public data.
Local-market benchmark
Demographics of the ZIPs where filings cluster, weighted by filing count and benchmarked against Census ACS 2023 5-year:
| Indicator | Filing-weighted average |
|---|---|
| Median household income (where filings cluster) | $74,587 |
| Median home value | $199,805 |
| Owner-occupancy rate | 73.9% |
| Median gross rent | $1,146/mo |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates, weighted by Keystone's filing volume across 10 top ZIPs.
Why these filings are invisible on most public foreclosure sites
The largest public foreclosure-aggregator interfaces surface only post-auction bank-owned properties in Indiana. Pre-foreclosure court filings are not visible to their non-paying users. Keystone tracks the court filing the day it hits the docket, weeks or months before any property reaches the auction stage those aggregators surface.
Methodology and full audit: Court-vs-aggregator coverage gap report.
Methodology and data sources
- Court filings are collected directly from St. Joseph County court records, which are public information.
- Every filing in this dataset has been verified for current owner-of-record. Entity-owned filings (LLCs, trusts, banks) and properties where the named party is not the current owner are excluded.
- Property value figures come from third-party enrichment (97% coverage on this dataset).
- Individual case data, defendant names, and property addresses are not published. Reports show aggregated statistics only.
- The methodology page at /reports/methodology documents data sources, sample sizes, and known limitations in detail.
- This report was generated 2026-06-04 from the live database. Numbers reflect the dataset at that moment.
Filing volume trend (last 5 months)
Property-related court filings tracked in St. Joseph County by calendar month. Trend signal on whether distress activity is rising or cooling in this market.
| Month | Filings |
|---|---|
| Feb 2026 | 8 |
| Mar 2026 | 18 |
| Apr 2026 | 31 |
| May 2026 | 28 |
| Jun 2026 (partial — month in progress) | 3 |
Last 2 complete months (59) vs. prior 2 complete months (26): +126.9%. Suggests accelerating distress activity. Current month excluded if still in progress.
Top cities for filings within St. Joseph County
Where filings concentrate inside St. Joseph County, by parsed property city or township.
| City / Township | Filings | Share (of city-parsed filings) |
|---|---|---|
| South Bend | 42 | 48.3% |
| Mishawaka | 18 | 20.7% |
| Granger | 14 | 16.1% |
| Osceola | 8 | 9.2% |
| North Liberty | 3 | 3.4% |
Share is computed against filings with a parsed property city (not against total St. Joseph County filings — addresses missing the city portion are excluded from the denominator). Top 5 shown; smaller cities aggregate into the long tail.
Get the underlying St. Joseph County filings
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Cite: Keystone Court Data, "St. Joseph County Indiana Court Filings Intelligence," 2026-06-04, https://keystonecourtdata.com/reports/st-joseph-in-court-filings-intelligence · Download data (CSV)