Roughly 1.4 million residential properties, or about 1.3% of all US homes, were vacant in the second quarter, according to new data from ATTOM. This marks the 13th consecutive quarter that the vacancy rate has hovered around 1.3%.
ATTOM’s analysis found 222,358 properties were in the foreclosure process during the second quarter, up 4.8% from the first quarter but down 6.3% year-over-year. Prior to this latest increase, the number of properties in foreclosure had gone down in each of the previous five quarters.
Also during the 7,329 of those pre-foreclosure properties, or 3.3%, were “zombie” properties, meaning they had been abandoned by their owners and sat vacant during the foreclosure process. This was essentially unchanged from the previous quarter but up from 2.9% during the same period one year ago.
“Thankfully, we’re not seeing a lot of homes sitting vacant due to pending foreclosures, which is good for families, neighborhoods, and the market,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “However, foreclosure filings have shown a recent uptick—with April seeing a 14% increase compared to the same month last year. So far, buyers seem to be scooping up these repossessed homes relatively quickly, so they aren’t sitting empty. Nobody wants to see a return to the days of the 2008 housing crisis when vacant, blighted homes were common in many parts of the country.”
