Zombie properties rise

But the latest data is also the third straight quarter that the number of pre-foreclosure properties has risen since a COVID-led nationwide foreclosure moratorium was lifted at the end of July 2021.

Among those pre-foreclosure properties, 7,569 sat vacant in the second quarter of 2022, meaning that the number of zombie-foreclosure properties went up quarterly by 2.8%.

Rick Sharga, executive vice president of market intelligence at ATTOM, said: “The incidence of zombie foreclosures tends to be higher in cases where the foreclosure process has dragged on for many months and sometimes even for years.

“We’re now seeing properties where the borrower was already in default prior to the government’s moratorium re-enter the foreclosure process, and undoubtedly some of these homes will have been vacated over the past 26 months.”

Nonetheless, just one out of every 13,171 homes in Q2 of 2022 remained vacant and in foreclosure, meaning that most neighborhoods have no zombie properties. The number of pre-foreclosure properties that have been abandoned and classed as ‘zombie’ also continues to fall, down from 3.6% a year ago to 3.2% in the first quarter of 2022.