Abandoned Homes in Foreclosure Down 20 Percent
Annually; Only One in 14,800 U.S. Homes Sit Empty in
Foreclosure, Matching Three-Year Low; Zombie-Property Trends
Come Amid Decline in Lenders Going After Delinquent
Homeowners
IRVINE,
Calif., Aug. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a
leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today
released its third-quarter 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie
Foreclosure Report showing that 1.4 million (1,357,423) residential
properties in the United States
are vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 76 homes,
across the nation – roughly the same as in the second quarter of
this year.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected
by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy
status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full
methodology below).
The report also reveals that 222,934 residential properties in
the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in the third quarter of
this year, down 6 percent from the second quarter of 2024 and down
29.3 percent from the third quarter of 2023. Foreclosure activity
has declined over the past year following a surge in cases that hit
after a nationwide moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent
homeowners, imposed during the Coronavirus pandemic, was lifted in
the middle of 2021.
Among those pre-foreclosure properties, about 7,000 sit vacant
as zombie foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties abandoned by
owners) in the third quarter of 2024. That figure is slightly above
the number in the prior quarter, but down 20.2 percent from a year
ago.
The latest count of zombie homes continues a long-term pattern
of those properties representing only a tiny portion of the
nation's total housing stock - currently at just one of every
14,776 homes around the U.S. The ratio is about the same as the
level of one in 14,724 in the prior quarter, but well down from one
in 11,565 in the third quarter of last year, marking the lowest
level since early 2021. Zombie foreclosures remain so rare that
most local housing markets around the country have little or no
issues with the blight and decay those properties can attract and
spread.
The portion of pre-foreclosure properties that have been
abandoned into zombie status, meanwhile, ticked up a bit, from 2.9
percent in the second quarter of 2024 to 3.1 percent in the current
quarter.
"Zombie foreclosures continue to be a mere blip on the radar
screen – one of many measures of the overall strength of the U.S.
housing market. After some worries about a rise in abandoned homes
following the end of the COVID-era foreclosure clampdown, they
remain an anomaly throughout most of the country," said
Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. "One
significant factor is the historically high levels of home equity.
This provides homeowners who may be struggling with their mortgage
payments a strong incentive to negotiate new payment plans, which
in turn reduces the number of foreclosures. As a result, fewer
owners are simply walking away from their properties like so many
did after the Great Recession of the late 2000s."
The hold-steady pattern of zombie properties during the third
quarter comes as the nation's housing market boom continues into
its 13th year, reversing signs of a slowdown in
2023.
The nationwide median home value shot up 6 percent, year over
year, in the Spring of 2024, reaching a new high of $365,000, according to ATTOM's home sales data.
It has increased every year since 2011, more than doubling during
that time. Those gains have led to historic improvements in
homeowner equity, which has resulted in almost 95 percent of owners
with mortgages having at least some equity built up and half owing
less than 50 percent of the estimated value of their
properties.
Zombie foreclosures mostly unchanged quarterly around U.S.
while down annually
A total of 7,007 residential properties facing possible
foreclosure have been vacated by their owners nationwide in the
third quarter of 2024, up 0.9 percent from 6,945 in the second
quarter of 2024 but down from 8,782 in the third quarter of 2023.
The number of zombie properties stayed the same quarterly or went
up slightly in 26 states – usually increasing by less than 20. The
number declined in 24 states.
The biggest percent decreases from the third quarter of 2023 to
the third quarter of 2024 in states that had at least 50 zombie
homes a year ago are in Connecticut (zombie properties down 79
percent, from 87 to 18) Oklahoma
(down 78 percent, from 199 to 43), Iowa (zombie properties down 78 percent, from
290 to 64), North Carolina (down
74 percent, from 191 to 50) and New
Mexico (down 74 percent from 95 to 25).
The only annual increases among states that had at least 50
zombie foreclosures in the third quarter of 2023 have come in
Florida (zombie properties up 64
percent, from 1,199 to 1,961), Texas (up 63 percent, from 112 to 183) and
New Jersey (up 12 percent, from
205 to 230). Georgia's number has
stayed the same, at 85.
Overall vacancy rates also about the same
The vacancy rate for all residential properties in the U.S. has
remained virtually the same for 10 quarters in a row, hovering
around 1.3 percent. The latest figure of 1.31 percent (one in 76
properties) is up slightly from 1.26 percent in both the second
quarter of 2024 and the third quarter of last year.
States with the highest vacancy rates for all residential
properties are Oklahoma (2.36
percent, or one in 42 homes, during the third quarter of this
year), Kansas (2.32 percent, or
one in 43), Missouri (2.11
percent, or one in 47), Alabama
(2.09 percent, or one in 48) and West
Virginia (2.08 percent, or one in 48).
Those with the smallest overall vacancy rates are New Hampshire (0.35 percent, or one in 282
homes), Vermont (0.41 percent, or
one in 243), New Jersey (0.43
percent, or one in 231), Idaho
(0.5 percent, or one in 201) and Utah (0.65 percent, or one in 153).
Other high-level findings from the third quarter of
2024:
- Among 170 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S. with at
least 100,000 residential properties in the third quarter of 2024,
those with at least 100 properties facing possible foreclosure and
the highest zombie foreclosure rates are Peoria, IL (23 percent of properties in the
foreclosure process are vacant); Cedar
Rapids, IA (10.9 percent); Youngstown, OH (8.1 percent); Wichita, KS (8 percent) and St. Louis, MO (7.5 percent).
- Aside from St. Louis, the
highest zombie-foreclosure rates in major metro areas with at least
500,000 residential properties and at least 100 homes facing
foreclosure in the third quarter of 2024 are in Cleveland, OH (7.4 percent of homes in the
foreclosure process are vacant); Pittsburgh, PA (5.8 percent); Indianapolis, IN (5.7 percent) and
San Antonio, TX (5.2
percent).
- Among the 36 million investor-owned homes throughout the U.S.
in the third quarter of 2024, about 939,000 are vacant, or 2.6
percent. The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes are in
Indiana (5.5 percent vacant),
Oklahoma (4.6 percent),
Alabama (4.4 percent),
Missouri (4.3 percent) and
Kansas (4.2 percent).
- Among the roughly 12,000 foreclosed, bank-owned homes in the
U.S. during the third quarter of 2024, 12.9 percent are vacant. In
states with at least 50 bank-owned homes, the largest vacancy rates
are in Kansas (24.1 percent
vacant), New Mexico (23.4
percent), Ohio (23.4 percent),
Indiana (22.5 percent) and
Oregon (20 percent).
- The highest zombie-foreclosure rates in U.S. counties with at
least 500 properties in the foreclosure process during the third
quarter of 2024 are in Broome
County (Binghamton), NY
(15.5 percent of homes in the foreclosure process are vacant);
Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), OH (7.9 percent); Pinellas County (St.
Petersburg), FL (7.3 percent); Marion County (Indianapolis), IN (7.3 percent) and
Erie County (Buffalo), NY (6.8 percent).
- Among zip codes with enough data to analyze, 89 of the top 100
where zombie properties represent the largest portions of all homes
are in New York, Florida and Illinois. The largest portions are in zip
codes 61605 in Peoria County, IL
(one in 134 homes); 32206 in Duval
County (Jacksonville), FL
(one in 238); 13350 in Herkimer County,
NY (one in 239 homes); 61603 in Peoria County, IL (one in 241) and 10993 in
Rockland County (West Haverstraw), NY (one in 287).
Report Methodology
ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for 103.5 million
residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure
status and owner-occupancy status in the third quarter of 2024.
Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000
residential properties, counties with at least 50,000 residential
properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties
were included in the analysis.
About ATTOM
ATTOM provides
premium property data to power products that
improve transparency, innovation, efficiency, and disruption in a
data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax,
deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard,
and neighborhood data for more than 155
million U.S. residential and commercial properties
covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data
management process involving more than 20 steps validates,
standardizes, and enhances the real estate
data collected by ATTOM, assigning each
property record with a persistent, unique ID — the ATTOM
ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels
innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate,
insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data
delivery solutions that include ATTOM
Cloud, bulk file
licenses, property data
APIs, real estate market
trends, property navigator and more. Also,
introducing our newest innovative solution, making property data
more readily accessible and optimized for AI
applications– AI-Ready
Solutions.
Media Contact:
Megan
Hunt
megan.hunt@attomdata.com
Data and Report
Licensing:
datareports@attomdata.com
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