Nearly 1.4 residential properties were vacant at the end of the third quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2017 U.S. Residential Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report.
The vacant properties represent 1.58 percent of all residential properties, which is a 1.63 percent decrease in vacant properties from one year ago, the report found. However, the report also found that rate of vacant properties increased in more than half of the metropolitan area analyzed, including Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Baltimore and Phoenix.
ATTOM also found that that the number of vacant “zombie” pre-foreclosure properties — which have started the foreclosure process but have not yet been repossessed by the lender — decreased 22 percent from a year ago to 14,312.
“Zombie foreclosures have dwindled dramatically over the last four years as a supply-starved housing has soaked up even some of the most highly distressed properties,” ATTOM Data Solutions Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release. “There are still pockets of the country with high zombie foreclosure rates, and high vacant property rates in general, primarily in the Rust Belt and parts of the Northeast and Southeast — driven in large part by a high share of non-owner occupied vacant properties in those areas.
“There is evidence that the ultra-tight inventory environment in some red-hot markets is beginning to ease just a bit, with vacant property rates nudging higher in markets such as San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Denver,” Blomquist added.
The report identified the states with the highest vacancy rates as Mississippi (3 percent); Michigan (2.94 percent); Indiana (2.77 percent); Oklahoma (2.73 percent); and Alabama (2.56 percent).
The metropolitan areas with the highest vacancy rates were Flint, Mich. (6.89 percent); Youngstown, Ohio (4.49 percent); Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas (3.80 percent); Detroit (3.77 percent); and Mobile, Ala. (3.77 percent).
According to the report, the states with the lowest vacancy rates were South Dakota (0.25 percent); Vermont (0.39 percent); New Hampshire (0.42 percent); North Dakota (0.69 percent); and Colorado (0.69 percent).
The metropolitan areas with the lowest vacancy rates were San Jose, Calif. (0.23 percent); Fort Collins, Colo. (0.24 percent); Lancaster, Pa. (0.26 percent); Manchester, N.H. (0.31 percent); and Provo, Utah (0.34 percent).
The report said the states with the most vacant “zombie” foreclosures were New York (3,528); New Jersey (2,261); Florida (1,963); Illinois (999); and Ohio (974).
Cities with the most vacant “zombie” foreclosures were New York/Newark, N.J. (3,106); Philadelphia (813), Chicago (665), Miami (571), and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla (477).