1 of every 12,256 homes sits empty while in foreclosure. These are called “zombie foreclosures” and they’re up 21%

 

Zombie foreclosures can mean strained homeowners have simply walked away, and they rose a lot last quarter.

The latest ATTOM data show that zombie foreclosures rose in Q2 despite a national foreclosure moratorium and long-term forbearances being extended repeatedly.

The ATTOM team makes 2 important notes here:

(1) this rise in “zombie” foreclosures may just be due to lenders foreclosing on homes that were already abandoned.

(2) The total number of zombie foreclosures is still tiny in the context of a U.S. market with almost 100 million homes.

Here are some key stats from the ATTOM data, and a link to everything below.

– 223,671 properties are in the process of foreclosure in 2Q21, up 27.5% from the 1Q21, but still down 13.3% from 2Q 2020

– 8,078 empty homes entered pre-foreclosure (aka Zombie foreclosures) in 2Q21, up 21% QoQ and 5.6% annually

– Among the nation’s total stock of 99 million residential properties, the portion represented by zombie properties remains minuscule, but grew in 2Q21. One of every 12,256 homes in the second quarter sit empty in the foreclosure process, up from one in 14,825 in the first quarter of 2021 and up from one in 12,967 in the second quarter of last year.