‘Zombie Foreclosures’ Falling, But Will Likely Rise Again
to varying degrees across the country over the coming year,” with zombie foreclosures almost certainly poised to become more common. “It’s hard to imagine that zombie foreclosures will continue to be so few and far between across the national landscape,” Teta added.
By Jesse Williams
Shambling Forward A total of 215,495 properties are in the process of foreclosure, according to the report, also down from last quarter by 3.7%. A total of 1.3 million, or 1.35% of all homes are currently vacant, according to the report, again down slightly from 1.42% last quarter. But those numbers are likely going to reverse across the board over the coming months—and with them, the number of zombie foreclosures—as lenders pursue increasingly distressed property owners. “The CFPB has authorized lenders to pursue foreclosure proceedings on vacant and abandoned homes now that the government’s moratorium is over,” said Rick Sharga, executive vice president of foreclosure database for RealtyTrac, in a statement. “They’ve also given the go-ahead to re-start the
F
ar from an apocalypse of the living dead, the U.S. actually saw a decrease in so-called “zombie foreclosures,” which dropped this quarter after rising through much of the pandemic—though the “dawn of the dead” could still be around the corner as federal protections for struggling homeowners recently expired.
The recent report from ATTOM Data Solutions™ found only one out of every 13,060 properties (at press time) currently qualify as “zombie foreclosures,” which are homes that have been vacated and foreclosed on. That is a drop of 7% from last quarter. Preforeclosure “zombie” properties total only 7,538 in the whole country, also down just under 7%. “Vacant properties in foreclosure, and the resulting potential for neighborhood decay, continue to be a non64 October 2021 RISMedia’s REAL ESTATE
issue overall in most of the country,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM, in a statement. “But that could easily change over the coming months as lenders are now free to take back properties from delinquent homeowners.” The report credited a strong housing market and federal protections for the overall dearth of vacancies and foreclosures even during a severe economic crisis. But it added that the housing market is “likely to face a downturn
