Approximately 1.4 million (1,382,480) residential properties – or about 1.3% of all U.S. homes – are currently vacant, according to ATTOM’s newly released Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, marking the 13th straight quarter that the national vacancy rate has remained steady at 1.3%.
About 222,358 properties were in the foreclosure process as of the end of the second quarter, according to ATTOM’s data — an increase of 4.8% from the previous quarter but down 6.3% from the second quarter of 2024. The uptick follows five consecutive quarters of declining foreclosure activity.
Of those foreclosures, about 7,329 – or 3.3% – were “zombie” foreclosures, meaning they were vacant and abandoned by owners during the foreclosure process. That figure is flat compared with the first quarter but up slightly from 2.9% a year earlier.
As of the end of the second quarter, just one in every 14,207 U.S. homes was a zombie. That low rate reflects the continued resilience of the post-pandemic housing market, ATTOM says.
On a more granular level, the number of zombie properties rose quarter-over-quarter in 30 states, though most increases were modest.
Similarly, the 19 states that saw declines experienced only slight decreases.
“Thankfully, we’re not seeing a lot of homes sitting vacant due to pending foreclosures, which is good for families, neighborhoods, and the market,” says Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, in the report. “However, foreclosure filings have shown a recent uptick—with April seeing a 14 percent 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.” Barber adds. “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.”
The number of zombie properties
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