Overall Vacant Properties At 1.5 Million in Q4 2019
IRVINE, Calif. – October 31, 2019 — 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 Q4 2019 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that over 1.5 million (1,527,142) U.S. single family homes and condos, representing 1.5 percent of all homes, were vacant in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM Data Solutions — including foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status — matched against quarterly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology enclosed below.)
The report shows that during the fourth quarter of 2019, about 288,300 homes were in the process of foreclosure, with 8,535, or 2.96 percent sitting empty as “zombie” foreclosures. The percentage of zombie properties is down from 3.2 percent in Q3 2019 and 4.7 percent in Q3 2016, the last comparative foreclosure vacancy report.
“The fourth quarter of 2019 was a repeat of the third quarter when it came to properties abandoned by owners facing foreclosure: the scourge continued to fade. One of the most visible signs of the housing market crash during the Great Recession keeps receding into the past,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. “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.”
Q4 2019 Vacant Home Infographic for Top ZIPS
High-level findings from the report:
- A total of 8,535 properties facing possible foreclosure were vacated by their owners nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2019. Washington, D.C. continued to have the highest percentage of zombie foreclosures (10.5 percent). States where the zombie foreclosure rates were above the national rate of 2.9 percent included Kansas (7.9 percent), Oregon (7.9 percent), Montana (7.4 percent); Maine (6.7 percent) and New Mexico (5.8 percent). The lowest rates – all less than 1.2 percent – were in North Dakota, Arkansas, Idaho, Colorado and Delaware.
- New York had the highest actual number of zombie properties (2,266), followed by Florida (1,461), Illinois (892), Ohio (823) and New Jersey (398). But those numbers were all lower than in Q3 2019.
- Among metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residential properties, Peoria, IL, continued to have the highest percent of vacant foreclosures (zombies) at 13.5 percent, followed by Wichita, KS (10.2 percent), Lexington, KY, (9.8 percent); Syracuse, NY (9.3 percent) and Honolulu, HI (8.6 percent).
- Among zip codes with a population of 10,000 or more and least 1,000 vacant properties, the highest rates of zombie foreclosure properties remained concentrated in the Midwest. The zip codes with the top percentages included 48505 and 48504 zip codes in the Flint, MI metro area; 46407 and 60426 zip codes in the Chicago, IL metro area; 29928 zip code in the Hilton Head, SC metro area; and 46016 zip code in the Indianapolis, IN metro area.
- The top zombie foreclosure rates in counties with at least 500 properties in foreclosure included Peoria County, IL (17.2 percent); Baltimore City/County, MD (11.5 percent); Broome County, NY (10.3 percent); Onondaga County, NY (9.7 percent) and Cuyahoga County, OH (9.4 percent).
- The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes were in Indiana (8.7 percent), Kansas (6.6 percent), Minnesota (6.0 percent), Ohio (5.9 percent) and Rhode Island (5.9 percent).
- The highest overall vacancy rates for all residential properties were in Tennessee (2.7 percent); Kansas (2.7 percent); Indiana (2.6 percent); Oklahoma (2.5 percent) and Mississippi (2.5 percent). The lowest were in New Hampshire (0.4 percent); Vermont (0.4 percent); Delaware (0.5 percent); Idaho (0.6 percent) and North Dakota (0.7 percent).
Report Methodology
ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed county tax assessor data for more than 98 million single-family homes and condos for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and, owner-occupancy status. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 single-family homes and condos and counties with at least 50,000 single-family homes and condos were included in the analysis. Vacancy data is available at https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/property-navigator/.
About ATTOM
ATTOM powers innovation across industries with premium property data and analytics covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our multi-sourced real estate data includes property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, neighborhood and geospatial boundary information, all validated through a rigorous 20-step process and linked by a unique ATTOM ID.
From flexible delivery solutions—such as Property Data APIs, Bulk File Licenses, Cloud Delivery, Real Estate Market Trends—to AI-Ready datasets, ATTOM fuels smarter decision-making across industries including real estate, mortgage, insurance, government, and more.
Media Contact:
Christine Stricker
949.748.8428
christine.stricker@attomdata.com
Data and Report Licensing:
949.502.8313
