The number of residential properties across the country that are in foreclosure in the first quarter of 2021 is down 12.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 and down 38 percent from a year ago, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’
first-quarter 2021 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report.
The report also found that the number of empty pre-foreclosures is down 12.3 percent from last quarter and 23.1 percent from last year. ‘Zombie’ properties, or homes abandoned during an incomplete foreclosure process, account for one of every 14,825 homes in the first quarter of 2021, according to ATTOM’s report. That’s down from one in 13,074 in the fourth quarter of 2020 and one in 11,405 a year ago.
“These days, you can walk through most neighborhoods in the United States and not spot a single zombie foreclosure. That continues a remarkable turnaround from the last recession when many communities were dotted by abandoned properties,” ATTOM Data Solutions Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a press release. “The trend does remain on thin ice because foreclosures are temporarily on hold, and the market is still at risk of another wave of zombie properties when the moratorium is lifted, depending on the general state of the broader economy. For the moment, though, zombie properties remain pretty much a non-issue in the vast majority of the country.”
The report said the states with the biggest decreases in zombie properties in the first quarter of 2021 are Kentucky (down 52 percent), Mississippi (down 51 percent), Louisiana (down 48 percent), Connecticut (down 47 percent) and California (down 44 percent). The states with the biggest increases include Arkansas (up 63 percent), Texas (up 62 percent), Minnesota (up 32 percent), Massachusetts (up 24 percent) and Missouri (up 20 percent).
ATTOM said zombie-foreclosure rates increased from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 in 29 states, with the largest increases in Kansas (up from 16.3 percent to 20.7 percent); Arkansas (up from 3.1 percent to 6.6 percent); Minnesota (up from 4.7 percent to 7.1 percent); Maine (up from 8.6 percent to 10.8 percent); and Hawaii (up from 4.7 percent to 6.4 percent).
The states with the highest number of zombie properties in the first quarter include New York (2,064), followed by Florida (926), Illinois (759), Ohio (633), and New Jersey (363) according to the report.
Other report findings for the first quarter of 2021 include that the highest zombie-foreclosure rates in major metropolitan areas are in Cleveland (12.3 percent); Baltimore, Md. (11.9 percent); St. Louis,(10.5 percent); Indianapolis, Ind. (9.2 percent); and Virginia Beach, Va.(8.7 percent). The lowest are in San Francisco (0.7 percent); Denver (1.5 percent); Charlotte, N.C. (1.6 percent); Los Angeles (1.8 percent) and New York (1.8 percent).