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A solid economic recovery and red-hot housing
market helped drive the vacant "zombie" foreclosure
rate to new lows in the first half of 2020, even as the
coronavirus crisis threatens to trigger a resurgence in
these vacant properties stuck in foreclosure limbo.
e zombie foreclosure trend quickly
changed in the third quarter, jumping to the
highest level in three years, according to a
report from ATTOM Data Solutions. e
report shows that the zombie foreclosure
rate—the percentage of all properties in the
foreclosure process that are vacant—jumped to
3.7% in Q3 2020, up from 3.0% in Q2 2020 to
the highest rate since Q3 2017.
e Q3 2020 zombie foreclosure rate was
still below a peak of 5.8% in Q1 2014, while
the actual number of zombie foreclosure
properties was down 82% over that same
time period—from 43,311 nationwide in the
first quarter of 2014 to just 7,960 in the third
quarter of 2020.
WHERE ZOMBIES ARE RISING
e zombie foreclosure rate increased in
Q3 2020 compared to the previous quarter
in 127 out of 158 metropolitan statistical
areas (80%) with at least 100,000 residential
properties, according to the report. e actual
number of zombie foreclosures increased from
RESURRECTING
ZOMBIE HOMES
Feature By: Daren Blomquist
