Overall Number of Vacant Properties in U.S. Down Slightly to 1.52 Million
IRVINE, Calif. – February 27, 2020 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), today released its Q1 2020 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that over 1.52 million U.S. single-family homes and condos are vacant, representing 1.5 percent of all homes.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions — including foreclosure status, equity, and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology enclosed below.) Vacancy data is available for more than 85 million U.S. residential properties at https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/marketing-lists/.
According to the report, about 282,800 homes are in the process of foreclosure, with about 8,700, or 3.1 percent sitting empty as “zombie” foreclosures. The percentage is up from 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, but still significantly less than 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014.
The total number of properties in the process of foreclosure in the first quarter of 2020 is down 1.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019, while the number vacant foreclosures is up 1.7 percent, meaning that the level of zombie properties rose while the count of foreclosures dipped. Since 2016, the number facing possible foreclosure is down 27 percent, while the tally of unoccupied properties in the foreclosure pipeline has declined 53 percent.
“Homes abandoned by owners facing a possible foreclosure remain little more than a blip on the radar across the country, as one of the main scourges of the Great Recession continues to show little or no signs of re-emerging,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “Even with the slight increase in these so-called ‘zombie foreclosures,’ so far this year, there are still pockets of distress with elevated numbers of abandoned homes. But in yet another reflection of how the national housing market is still booming, you can drive through many towns and not pass a single such property.”
