Number of zombie homes increased in 38 states and D.C.; National vacancy rate held steady at 1.3 percent

IRVINE, Calif., May 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered intelligence, and real estate analytics solutions, today released its latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that nearly 1.4 million homes, or 1.3 percent of residential properties in the United States, were vacant in the second quarter of the year. That was the same rate as the previous quarter and as the second quarter of 2025.

The report analyzes publicly recorded real estate data collected by ATTOM — including foreclosure status, equity and owner-occupancy status — matched against monthly updated vacancy data. (See full methodology below).

Out of the country's 104.9 million residential properties, 245,376 were in the foreclosure process in the second quarter. Of those, 8,312 properties, or 3.4 percent, were "zombies," meaning the owners had abandoned the properties before the end of their foreclosure proceedings. The second quarter zombie rate was slightly higher than the 3.3 percent rate posted in the first quarter and at the same time last year.

"The increase in zombie foreclosures across most states may reflect a foreclosure market that is slowly returning to more normalized levels," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "At the same time, overall vacancy rates remain relatively steady nationwide, while zombie foreclosures still represent only a small share of homes in the foreclosure process."

Number of zombie properties rises in most states
The number of zombie properties rose quarter-over-quarter in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

Among states with at least 100 zombie properties in the second quarter, the largest quarter-over-quarter increases were in Georgia (up 98 percent to 101 zombie properties), North Carolina (up 67.2 percent to 102 zombies), Indiana (up 42 percent to 294 zombies), Iowa (up 35.5 percent to 126 zombies), and South Carolina (up 15.4 percent to 150 zombies).

Only two states with at least 50 zombie properties saw their numbers drop: Washington (down 13.1 percent to 53 zombies) and New York (down 2.2 percent to 1,352 zombies).

Northeastern vacancy rates lowest
The states with the highest residential property vacancy rates in the second quarter were Oklahoma (2.4 percent), Kansas (2.4 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent), West Virginia (2.1 percent), and Missouri (2.1 percent).

The states with the lowest vacancy rates were New Hampshire (0.3 percent), Vermont (0.4 percent), New Jersey (0.5 percent), Connecticut (0.5 percent), and Idaho (0.6 percent)

Double-digit zombie rates in several Midwestern metros
Out of 138 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least 100,000 residential properties and at least 100 properties in the foreclosure process in the second quarter, the highest zombie rates were in Cedar Rapids, IA (13.2 percent); Wichita, KS (12.9 percent); Youngstown, OH (11.4 percent); Cleveland, OH (10.9 percent); and Akron, OH (10.6 percent).

Of those metros, the lowest zombie rates were in Grand Rapids, WY (0%); Trenton, NJ (0.2 percent); Atlantic City, NJ (0.4 percent); Provo, UT (0.5 percent); and Santa Rosa, CA (0.5 percent).

Vacancy rates for investor-owned homes are more than double national rate
Properties owned by institutional investors were more than twice as likely to be vacant as residential properties overall in the second quarter. Out of 25.1 million institutional investor-owned homes, 890,135, or 3.5 percent, were vacant.

The states with the highest vacancy rates for investor-owned homes were Indiana (7.1 percent); Illinois (6.2 percent); Kansas (6 percent); Oklahoma (6 percent); and Alabama (6 percent).

The states with the lowest vacancy rates for investor-owned homes were New Hampshire (0.9 percent); Vermont (1 percent); Idaho (1.3 percent); North Dakota (1.5 percent); and New Jersey (1.6 percent).

More than 30 percent of pre foreclosure homes vacant in multiple zip codes nationwide
Out of 2,391 zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties and at least 25 in the foreclosure process in the second quarter, the highest zombie rates were in 21217 in Baltimore, MD (51.6 percent); 91001 in Los Angeles, CA (50 percent); 33708 in Tampa, FL (37.9 percent); 32118 in Daytona, FL (37.5 percent); and 34652 in Tampa, FL (33.7 percent).

Conclusion
ATTOM's second quarter analysis of vacant and zombie homes found that the national vacancy rate held steady at 1.3 percent while the rate of zombie homes inched upward to 3.4 percent. Zombie rates rose in the majority of states and were higher among investor-owned properties.

Report Methodology
ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for nearly 104.9 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the second quarter of 2026. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties and 50 properties in pre-foreclosure, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties and 25 in pre-foreclosure were included in the analysis.

Report Definitions
Vacant Rate
The percentage of all residential properties that are unoccupied at the time of analysis, regardless of foreclosure status or ownership type.

"Zombie" Foreclosure Rate (Pct Pre-Foreclosures Vacant)
The percentage of properties in the foreclosure process that are vacant because the owner has abandoned the property prior to the foreclosure being completed.

Vacant Investment Rate
The percentage of investor-owned residential properties that are unoccupied, measured against the total number of investor-owned homes.

Vacant Bank-Owned (REO) Rate
The percentage of bank-owned (REO) residential properties that are vacant after foreclosure has been completed and ownership has transferred to the lender.

About ATTOM
ATTOM delivers AI-driven property intelligence built on one of the nation's most trusted property data assets, covering 160 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our engineered, multi-sourced real estate data spans property tax, deeds, mortgages, foreclosure, environmental risk, property conditions, natural hazards, neighborhood insights, and geospatial boundaries, rigorously validated for advanced analytics. ATTOM supports analytics and AI-driven applications through flexible delivery options including APIs, bulk licensing, cloud delivery, and the MCP Server for AI-powered, agentic access to engineered property data—enabling organizations to automate analysis and scale property intelligence across industries.

Media Contact:
Megan Hunt
megan.hunt@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:
949.502.8313
datareports@attomdata.com

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SOURCE ATTOM