Zombie property foreclosures—or pre-foreclosed properties abandoned by owners—remain just a small portion of homes. In Q1 2025, there are 1.4 million vacant homes, making up just 1.3% of all residential properties. This is unchanged from the previous quarter but is slightly higher than a year ago, according to a recent report from property data provider ATTOM. The report also shows that 212,268 homes are in foreclosure, a 1.5% decline from last quarter and a 12.6% drop from early 2024. Foreclosure activity has now fallen for five straight quarters, following a post-pandemic spike after the lifting of the foreclosure moratorium in mid-2021.
A total of 7,094 residential properties facing possible foreclosure have been vacated by their owners nationwide in the first quarter of 2025, down 0.2 percent from 7,109 in the fourth quarter of 2024 and down 3.3 percent from 7,338 in the first quarter of 2024. The number of zombie properties has gone down or remained the same quarterly in 22 states, usually decreasing by less than 25. The number has increased in 28 states, again by small amounts.
The biggest percent decreases from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 in states that had at least 50 zombie homes a year ago are in Maryland (zombie properties down 38 percent, from 104 to 65), Georgia (down 35 percent, from 81 to 53), California (down 30 percent, from 310 to 217), New Jersey (down 23 percent, from 260 to 199) and Ohio (down 16 percent, from 597 to 503). Read more