Nearly 1.5 million U.S. single-family homes and condos were vacant at the end of this year’s third quarter, representing 1.52 percent of all homes nationwide, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ 2018 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report.
The third-quarter number of vacant, single-family homes and condos was down slightly from 1.58 percent one year ago, the report found.
According to the report, there were 10,291 vacant “zombie” foreclosures homes nationwide at the end of the third quarter, representing 3.38 percent of all homes actively in the foreclosure process. The number of zombie foreclosure homes was down from 14,312 a year ago, and the zombie foreclosure rate was down from 4.18 percent a year ago.
“The number of vacant foreclosures is now less than one-fourth of the more than 44,000 in 2013 when we first began tracking these zombie homes,” ATTOM Senior Vice President Daren Blomquist said in a release. “Policy solutions such as land banks designed to mitigate the ripple effects of vacant properties on neighborhoods and cities have had a substantial impact, and a booming housing market in many areas of the country is lifting all boats.
“There are still high concentrations of zombie homes and other vacant homes in some local markets and submarkets, but those high concentrations are becoming fewer and farther between,” Blomquist added.
ATTOM said the states with the highest vacant home rates in the third quarter were Tennessee (2.65 percent); Kansas (2.50 percent); Oklahoma (2.49 percent); Mississippi (2.47 percent); and Indiana (2.45 percent).
The metropolitan statistical areas with the highest share of vacant homes in the third quarter were Flint, Mich. (6.99 percent); Youngstown, Ohio (3.80 percent); Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas (3.71 percent); Myrtle Beach, S.C. (3.70 percent); and Mobile, Ala. (3.69 percent).