Although the share of vacant and foreclosed homes dropped during Q2 2024, some housing markets still have a significant number of homes in these categories. According to the Q4 2024 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report from property information provider ATTOM, approximately 1.4 million homes in the U.S. are vacant (that's 1.3% of total housing stock or about one in every 77 homes). There are also 215,601 homes in foreclosure, a decrease of 3.3% since last quarter and a decline of 32.8% from Q4 2023. About 7,100 of these are zombie foreclosures, that is, homes abandoned by owners during pre-foreclosure.
ATTOM analyzed the largest housing markets in the U.S. to figure out where a majority of these zombie foreclosures are located. Those metros are led by Miami, with 772 zombie foreclosures; New York, where there are 754 zombie foreclosures; and the Chicago metro area, with 483 zombie foreclosures.
On a more granular level, the number of zombie properties has increased quarterly in 30 states, typically by fewer than 20 homes. In contrast, the number has either declined or remained stable in 20 states. The largest percentage decreases from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2024, in states that had at least 50 zombie homes a year ago, are as follows: Connecticut saw an 87 percent drop (from 100 to 13), Iowa experienced a 76 percent decrease (from 281 to 68), North Carolina decreased by 73 percent (from 195 to 53), New Mexico declined by 72 percent (from 81 to 23), and Oklahoma fell by 71 percent (from 197 to 58). Read more