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Zombie Foreclosure Remain Sparce Around U.S. in Fourth Quarter Amid Ongoing Strong Housing Market

Industry Update
October 31, 2024

Source: ATTOM

ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its fourth-quarter 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.4 million (1,355,909) residential properties in the United States are vacant. That figure represents 1.3 percent, or one in 77 homes, across the nation – virtually the same as in third quarter and up just slightly from a year ago.

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 215,601 residential properties in the U.S. are in the process of foreclosure in the fourth quarter of this year, down 3.3 percent from the third quarter of 2024 and down 32.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023.

Among those pre-foreclosure properties, about 7,100 sit vacant as zombie foreclosures (pre-foreclosure properties abandoned by owners) in the fourth 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 extends 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 14,591 homes around the U.S. The ratio is virtually unchanged from one in 14,776 in the prior quarter, but well down from one in 11,412 in the fourth quarter of last year, marking one of the lowest levels in the past five years. Zombie foreclosures, which can attract vandals and spread neighborhood blight, continue to have little or no impact on most local housing markets. That phenomenon remains one of many enduring effects of a housing market boom around the nation now in its 13th year.

“The near-total disappearance of zombie foreclosures has been and still is one of the more subtle, but important benefits of the country’s soaring housing market. Those properties have gone from a plague in many areas of the U.S. following the Great Recession of the late 2000s, when millions of homes fell into foreclosure, to a distant memory in most communities today,” said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM. “That’s unlikely to change much in the near future given that record home prices are keeping home-equity levels at historic highs and foreclosures cases dropping. On top of that, the supply of homes is so tight that even when a property is abandoned, buyers are more likely to swoop in and pick it up.”

Zombie foreclosures up by small amounts quarterly around U.S. while down annually

A total of 7,109 residential properties facing possible foreclosure have been vacated by their owners nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 1.5 percent from 7,007 in the third quarter of 2024 but down from 8,903 in the fourth quarter of 2023. The number of zombie properties has gone up quarterly in 30 states – usually increasing by less than 20. The number has declined or stayed the same in 20 states.

The biggest percent decreases from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024 in states that had at least 50 zombie homes a year ago are in Connecticut (zombie properties down 87 percent, from 100 to 13), Iowa (down 76 percent, from 281 to 68), North Carolina (down 73 percent, from 195 to 53), New Mexico (down 72 percent, from 81 to 23) and Oklahoma (down 71 percent, from 197 to 58).

The only annual increases among states that had at least 50 zombie foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2024 have come in Kansas (zombie properties up 126 percent, from 35 to 79), Arizona (up 114 percent, from 28 to 60), Florida (up 65 percent, from 1,199 to 1,974), Texas (up 52 percent, from 126 to 191) and New Jersey (up 14 percent, from 188 to 215).

Overall vacancy rates change by tiny amounts

The vacancy rate for all residential properties in the U.S. has remained virtually the same for 11 quarters in a row, hovering around 1.3 percent. The latest figure of 1.31 percent (one in 77 properties) is the same as in the third quarter of 2024 and up slightly from 1.27 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

States with the highest vacancy rates for all residential properties are Oklahoma (2.37 percent, or one in 42 homes, during the fourth quarter of this year), Kansas (2.28 percent, or one in 44), Missouri (2.15 percent, or one in 47), Alabama (2.11 percent, or one in 47) and West Virginia (2.08 percent, or one in 48).

Those with the lowest overall vacancy rates are New Hampshire (0.34 percent, or one in 296 homes), Vermont (0.40 percent, or one in 248), New Jersey (0.46 percent, or one in 216), Idaho (0.50 percent, or one in 200) and Connecticut (0.57 percent, or one in 175).