ATTOM’s latest second quarter 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showed that there are nearly 1.3 million vacant residential properties in the U.S—the same as the first quarter of 2024.
The report also indicated that 237,208 residential properties nationwide are in the process of foreclosure in this year’s second quarter, down 2.3% from Q1, and down 23.9% from Q2 2023. Overall, foreclosure activity has declined this year after a spike that hit following a moratorium on lenders pursuing delinquent homeowners—implemented during the COVID pandemic, and lifted mid-year 2021.
Out of the pre-foreclosure properties, about 6,945 were reported vacant and deemed zombie foreclosures in the second quarter of 2024—down 5.4% from the first quarter and 20.6% lower from a year ago.
Zombie foreclosures have dropped in more than half the country, posing nearly no threat to most average American neighborhoods, as these types of properties often contribute to blight and create other nuisances. Zombie properties have decreased quarterly in 30 states, and yearly in 38. Vacancy rates remain steady through mid-year 2024, and have remained essentially the same for eight straight quarters—1.26%, or one in 79 properties, the same as Q1 2024.
Zombie homes continue to represent a small fraction of total housing stock in the U.S., at just one in every 14,724 homes—down from one in 13,905 last quarter and one in 11,577 in the second quarter of 2023, now at the lowest level since 2021.
“Predictions of a huge spike in foreclosures after the moratorium, with the potential for a surge in zombie properties, never came true. Indeed, the opposite has happened, as abandoned homes in foreclosure continue to get harder and harder to find around the country,” said Rob Barber, ATTOM CEO. “Some signs have popped up over the past year that the long U.S. housing market boom is giving back some of its gains, which could lead to declining equity and more foreclosures. We are still far from losing the benefit of having zombie properties nearly disappear from the housing market landscape.”
The notable drop of zombie properties in Q2 strikes as the housing market rolls on through more than a decade of price increase.
For the full report, click here.
