Zombie Properties Slip Below 3 Percent of All Foreclosures Nationwide

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Today’s ATTOM Data Solutions’ fourth quarter Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure report reveals that more than 1.5 million U.S. single family homes and condos, representing 1.5 percent of all homes, were vacant in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The report shows that during the fourth quarter of 2019, about 288,300 homes were in the process of foreclosure, with 8,535 (2.96%) sitting empty as “zombie” foreclosures. The percentage of zombie properties is down from 3.2% in third quarter 2019 and 4.7% in third quarter 2016.

“The fourth quarter of 2019 was a repeat of the third quarter when it came to properties abandoned by owners facing foreclosure: the scourge continued to fade. One of the most visible signs of the housing market crash during the Great Recession keeps receding into the past,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “While pockets of zombie foreclosures remain, neighborhoods throughout the country are confronting fewer and fewer of the empty, decaying properties that were symbolic of the fallout from the housing market crash during the recession.”

Here are some of the report’s highlights:

  • A total of 8,535 properties facing possible foreclosure were vacated by their owners nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2019. Washington, D.C., continued to have the highest percentage of zombie foreclosures (10.5%). States where the zombie foreclosure rates were above the national rate of 2.9 percent included Kansas (7.9%), Oregon (7.9%), Montana (7.4%); Maine (6.7%) and New Mexico (5.8%). The lowest rates – all less than 1.2 percent – were in North Dakota, Arkansas, Idaho, Colorado and Delaware.
  • New York had the highest actual number of zombie properties (2,266), followed by Florida (1,461), Illinois (892), Ohio (823) and New Jersey (398). Still, those numbers were lower than third quarter 2019.
  • Among metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residential properties, Peoria, Illinois, continued to have the highest percent of vacant foreclosures (zombies) at 13.5%, followed by Wichita, Kansas (10.2%); Lexington, Kentucky (9.8%); Syracuse, New York (9.3%) and Honolulu, Hawaii (8.6%).
  • Among Zip codes with a population of 10,000 or more and least 1,000 vacant properties, the highest rates of zombie foreclosure properties were concentrated in the Midwest. Zip codes with the top percentages included the 48505 and 48504 Zip codes in the Flint, Michigan, metro area; the 46407 and 60426 Zip codes in the Chicago, Illinois, metro area; the 29928 Zip code in the Hilton Head, South Carolina, metro area; and the 46016 Zip code in the Indianapolis, Indiana metro area.
  • The top zombie foreclosure rates in counties with at least 500 properties in foreclosure included Peoria County, Illinois (17.2%); Baltimore City/County, New York (11.5%); Broome County, New York (10.3%); Onondaga County, New York (9.7 %); and Cuyahoga County, Ohio (9.4%).
  • The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes were in Indiana (8.7%), Kansas (6.6%), Minnesota (6%), Ohio (5.9%) and Rhode Island (5.9%).
  • The highest overall vacancy rates for all residential properties were in Tennessee (2.7%); Kansas (2.7%); Indiana (2.6%); Oklahoma (2.5%) and Mississippi (2.5%). The lowest were in New Hampshire (0.4%); Vermont (0.4%); Delaware (0.5%); Idaho (0.6%) and North Dakota (0.7%).

The full report is available at https://www.attomdata.com/news/market-trends/q4-2019-vacancy-and-zombie-foreclosure-report.

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