ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, has officially released its third-quarter 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, which claims that 1.4 million (1,357,423) residential properties in the United States are vacant. To give you some context, this figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 76 homes, across the nation, roughly the same volume of surveyed components as in the second quarter of this year. Anyway, more on the same will reveal how the report in question analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM, including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status, all of it matched against monthly updated vacancy data. Leveraging this analysis, ATTOM’s report is able to inform us on how 222,934 residential properties across 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. It is also able to take the veil off the fact that 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. Having said that, we must also acknowledge how, 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, marking an uptick from the prior quarter, but down 20.2 percent from a year ago.
Moving on, going by the available details, 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. However, the number of zombie properties stayed the same quarterly or went up slightly in 26 states. You see, the biggest percent decreases from the third quarter of 2023 to the third quarter of 2024 across states, which had at least 50 zombie homes a year ago, came 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). On the other hand, the only annual increases among states, which had at least 50 zombie foreclosures in the third quarter of 2023, came 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.
“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.”
Among other things, we got to know that, from 170 metropolitan statistical areas in the U.S., with at least 100,000 residential properties in the third quarter of 2024, those featuring 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). Furthermore, the highest zombie-foreclosure rates across major metro areas, with at least 500,000 residential properties and at least 100 homes facing foreclosure in the third quarter of 2024, included 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).
