Weekly Real Estate News
The share of U.S. residential properties sitting vacant fell slightly in the fourth quarter of 2026, while abandoned homes in foreclosure represented a smaller portion of the foreclosure pipeline, according to a new report from ATTOM.
ATTOM said 1.2% of residential properties were vacant, down from 1.3% in the third quarter and the same period a year earlier. The company released its fourth-quarter Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report on October 29.
Zombie foreclosure share declines
Of the 105.1 million residential properties examined, 269,195 were in the foreclosure process. ATTOM identified 8,040 vacant properties in foreclosure, commonly called zombie foreclosures. They represented 3% of foreclosure properties, compared with 3.3% in the preceding quarter and a year earlier.
That decline in the national percentage did not extend to every state. Zombie-property counts increased quarter over quarter in 29 states, ATTOM reported.
Florida had 2,220 zombie properties, although its count declined 19.6% from the previous quarter. California had 267, down 10.4%. Among states with at least 50 zombie properties, Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and North Carolina recorded some of the largest percentage increases.
Vacancy differs sharply by market
Oklahoma had the highest statewide residential vacancy rate at 2.4%, followed by Kansas at 2.3%. New Hampshire had the lowest rate, at 0.3%, with Vermont, New Jersey and Connecticut each at 0.4%.
In metropolitan areas with sufficient data, Baltimore and Youngstown recorded zombie foreclosure rates of 13% among properties in foreclosure. Those figures describe a small subset of properties and should not be mistaken for the share of all homes that are vacant.
Why it matters
Vacant homes can create maintenance and neighborhood concerns, but the national figures suggest that abandoned foreclosure properties remain a relatively small part of the U.S. housing stock. At the same time, the rising number of foreclosure proceedings and uneven state trends deserve attention.
The report is based on county assessor records and matched foreclosure and vacancy data. Its fourth-quarter designation describes the period covered by the analysis, not a change that occurred on October 29.
Source: ATTOM fourth-quarter 2026 vacant property and zombie foreclosure report.
