The number of zombie foreclosures, properties in the foreclosure process that are vacant, dropped 30.1% from a year ago during the second quarter, according to RealtyTrac's U.S. Residential Property Vacancy and Zombie Foreclosure Report.
RealtyTrac found that only 19,187 residential properties actively in the foreclosure process were vacant, which roughly equates to 4.7% of all properties in foreclosure. Altogether, the report noted that 1.4 million residential properties were vacant during the quarter, up 2.7% from the first quarter.
"Lenders have been taking advantage of the strong seller's market to dispose of lingering foreclosure inventory over the past year, evidenced by 12 consecutive months of increasing bank repossessions ending in February and now evidenced by these numbers showing a sharp drop in vacant zombie foreclosures compared to a year ago," Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, said in a news release Thursday.
Blomquist added that this reduction in the zombie foreclosure inventory will help to alleviate the inventory pressures that have driven home prices up in recent years.
New Jersey had the highest number of zombie foreclosures, with 4,003, while Oregon had the highest percentage of foreclosure properties that are vacant with 11.8%. On a metropolitan-area level, New York had the most zombie foreclosures with 3,526 properties, and St. Louis had the highest rate at 10.6%.
RealtyTrac also found that there were 43,602 vacant bank-owned residential properties as of May 2016, representing 15.9% of all REO residential properties. Michigan had the highest overall vacancy rate at 3.4%.
