In the bleak landscape post-recession, a cohort of foreclosed-on homeowners left properties vacant—abandoned, crumbling "zombies," with no owners, deteriorating from lack of upkeep.
 
Today, 1.5 percent of homes remain vacant, with 2.96 percent empty foreclosures, according to ATTOM Data Solutions' latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report. In 2016, by comparison, 4.7 percent of foreclosures were "zombies."
 
Currently, there are 288,300 foreclosures nationwide, according to ATTOM. 
 
The biggest concentrations of zombies? Avoid Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Mexico and Oregon, where empty foreclosures range from 5.8 percent to 7.9 percent—considerably higher than the national rate. The zombie-free zones? Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho and North Dakota, all at less than 1.2 percent. Of overall vacancies, the highest rates were in Flint, Mich., Chicago, Ill., and Hilton Head Island, S.C.
 
 
"One of the most visible signs of the housing market crash during the Great Recession keeps receding into the past," Todd Teta, ATTOM Data Solutions chief product officer, says. "While pockets of zombie foreclosures remain, neighborhoods throughout the country are confronting fewer and fewer of the empty, decaying properties that were symbolic of the fallout from the housing market crash during the recession."
 
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia's online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com.

 

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