Vacant residential property rate held steady at 1.3 percent; Number of zombie foreclosures drops in 28 states and D.C.
IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its first-quarter 2026 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.33 percent of the residential properties in the United States, or nearly 1.4 million homes, were vacant at the beginning of the year. That was essentially the same rate as the 1.32 percent rate posted in the previous quarter and in the first 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 nation's nearly 104.8 million residential properties, 230,401 were in the process of foreclosure at the time of the report. Of those, 7,540 properties, or 3.27 percent, were "zombies," meaning their owners had abandoned them before the end of the foreclosure proceedings. That zombie rate was essentially the same as the prior quarter but down slightly from 3.34 percent at the same time last year.
"It will come as no surprise to anyone shopping for a home that vacancy rates remain low. That is one reason home prices have continued to rise despite ongoing affordability challenges," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "It is also encouraging for both neighborhoods and the broader market that even among properties in foreclosure, vacancy rates remain relatively low."
Most states have fewer zombie homes
In 28 states and the District of Columbia, the number of zombie properties fell quarter-over-quarter.
Among states with at least 50 zombie properties, the largest quarter-over-quarter increases were in Maryland (up 45.6 percent to 115 zombies), South Carolina (up 34 percent to 130 zombies), Oklahoma (up 26.3 percent to 72 zombies), California (up 15.1 percent to 313 zombies), and Nevada (up 11.9 percent to 66 zombies).
The largest quarter-over-quarter drops were in Georgia (down 31.1 percent to 51 zombies). North Carolina (down 25.6 percent to 61 zombies), Kansas (down 23.5 percent to 62 zombies), Texas (down 13.7 percent to 177 zombies), and Iowa (down 13.1 percent to 93 zombies).
Northeast retains lowest vacancy rates
The states with the highest overall home vacancy rates were Oklahoma (2.4 percent), Kansas (2.4 percent), Alabama (2.2 percent), Missouri (2.1 percent), and West Virginia (2.1 percent).
The lowest vacancy rates were in New Hampshire (0.3 percent), Vermont (0.4 percent), New Jersey (0.5 percent), Connecticut (0.5 percent), and Idaho (0.6 percent).
Metros in the Midwest have highest incidence of zombies
Of the 27 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least 100,000 total residential properties and 50 or more properties in the foreclosure process that are vacant, the highest zombie rates were in Cleveland, OH (9.9 percent); Baltimore, MD (9.3 percent); St. Louis, MO (8.6 percent); Akron, OH (7.4 percent); and Indianapolis, IN (6.5 percent).
Those metro areas that had the lowest zombie foreclosure rate were New York, NY (1.6 percent); Philadelphia, PA (1.7 percent); Los Angeles, CA (2.2 percent); Orlando, FL (2.2 percent); and Lakeland, FL (2.4 percent).
Big investors have more empty homes
Properties held by institutional investors, rather than individual owners, were more likely to be vacant. Of the roughly 25.2 million institutional investor-owned homes, about 3.5 percent were vacant.
The states with the highest vacancy rates for investor-owned properties were Indiana (7.2 percent), Illinois (6.2 percent), Alabama (6 percent), Kansas (6 percent), and Oklahoma (5.9 percent).
The lowest vacancy rates for investor-owned properties were in New Hampshire (0.8 percent), Vermont (1 percent), Idaho (1.3 percent), North Dakota (1.5 percent), and Maine (1.5 percent).
Zombie rates top 40 percent of pre-foreclosure homes in some zip codes
Out of 2,237 zip codes with at least 1,000 properties and 25 in pre-foreclosure, the highest zombie rates were in 21217 in Baltimore, MD (44 percent); 44108 in Cleveland, OH (41.1 percent); 33708 in Saint Petersburg, FL (39.3 percent); 34652 in New Port Richey, FL (35.5 percent); and 92262 in Palm Springs, CA (32.5 percent).
Conclusion
ATTOM's first quarter analysis found that 1.33 percent of U.S. residential properties were vacant, essentially the same rate as the previous quarter. The rate of zombie homes held steady nationwide, although 28 states saw fewer zombie homes quarter-over-quarter. Properties owned by institutional investors continued to have higher vacancy rates than residential properties in general.
Report Methodology
ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for nearly 104.8 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the first quarter of 2026. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties 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 158 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, market trend products, 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
[email protected]
Data and Report Licensing:
[email protected]
SOURCE ATTOM
Share this article