As of Q2 2023 about 1.3 million (1,285,633) residential properties across the U.S. are vacant, representing 1.3% (one in 79 homes), according to a new report from ATTOM.
ATTOM’s Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report for Q2 2023 found that 311,508 residential properties are in the process of foreclosure, up 4.3% from last quarter and up 20.2% from last year. Among those pre-foreclosure properties, 8,752 sit vacant as zombie foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties abandoned by owners), up 7.5% from the prior quarter and up 15.6% from a year ago.
Key highlights:
- A total of 8,752 residential properties facing possible foreclosure have been vacated by their owners nationwide, up from 8,141 in Q1 2023 and from 7,569 last year. The number of zombie properties has grown quarterly in 29 states and annually in 36.
- While most neighborhoods have little or no zombie foreclosures, the biggest increases in states with at least 50 zombie properties are in Texas (+47%, from 114 to 168), Ohio (+26%, from 846 to 1,070), Oklahoma (+22%, from 142 to 173), Georgia (+22%, from 78 to 95) and Iowa (+21%, from 227 to 274).
- The only quarterly decreases among states with at least 50 zombie foreclosures are in Michigan (-20%, from 74 to 59), South Carolina (-2%, from 154 to 151), Pennsylvania (-1%, from 404 to 401) and New York (down less than 1%, from 2,006 to 2,000).
- New York continues to have the highest ratio of zombie homes to all residential properties (one in 2,140), followed by Ohio (one in 3,615), Iowa (one in 4,480), Illinois (one in 4,687) and Florida (one in 5,926).
- The vacancy rate for residential properties remained the same after dropping in the prior three quarters. It now stands at 1.27% (one in 79 properties), the same as in Q1 2023, but still down from 1.31% last year (one in 76).
- States with the biggest annual drops in the overall vacancy rate are Tennessee (from 1.55% to 1.02%), Michigan (from 2.14% to 1.88%), Georgia (from 1.61% to 1.39%), Minnesota (from 0.95% to 0.73%) and New Jersey (from 0.53% to 0.36%).
- Among the 23.6 million investor-owned homes, about 843,000 are vacant (3.6%). The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes are in Indiana (6.9%), Alabama (6.1%), Oklahoma (6%), Ohio (5.9%) and Illinois (5.8%).
- Among the roughly 14,900 foreclosed, bank-owned homes, 14.5% are vacant. In states with at least 50 bank-owned homes, the largest vacancy rates are in Iowa (27.8%), Ohio (24.8%), New Mexico (22.9%), Indiana (22.8%) and New York (20.8%).
Major takeaway:
The author of the report stated that while the numbers rise, they are still “historically low, with little impact on the nation’s total stock of 101.3 million residential properties.”
“Zombie foreclosures keep inching up as lenders pursue more delinquent homeowners in courts around the country. All indications are that the number of zombie properties will keep going up slowly, given that foreclosures are up,” said Rob Barber, chief executive officer for ATTOM. “But abandoned properties are still nothing more than a dot on the radar screen among the majority of neighborhoods. We are still a long way from the fallout after the Great Recession of the late 2000s, when this was a very real issue in many areas around the U.S.”
For the full report, click here.
