Vacant "Zombie" Foreclosures Nationwide Decrease 23 Percent From a Year Ago but Increase in 16 States, 60 of 212 Metros

IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 30, 2014) - RealtyTrac^® (www.realtytrac.com), the nation's leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its Q3 2014 Zombie Foreclosure Report, which found that 117,298 homes actively in the foreclosure process had been vacated by the homeowners prior to a completed foreclosure, representing 18 percent of all active foreclosures. These vacant properties will likely end up as short sales, foreclosure auction sales or bank-owned sales in the future.

There were 117,298 owner-vacated foreclosures nationwide in third quarter of 2014 (18 percent of total properties in foreclosure), down 17 percent from 141,406 in the second quarter of 2014 and down 23 percent from 152,033 in the third quarter of 2013.

"The most effective preventative vaccine for the blight caused by vacant, abandoned foreclosures has proven to be a short and efficient foreclosure process," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "Absent that, the best antidote for a zombie foreclosure infestation is a pro-active land bank program like that in Cleveland and more recently Chicago designed to aggressively take possession of vacant foreclosures and rehab or demolish them.

"Meanwhile, markets with lengthy and lengthening foreclosure timelines have unintentionally created a zombie foreclosure breeding ground," Blomquist added. "As we see a backlog of delayed distress finally hit the foreclosure pipeline in some of those markets, the problem is coming more to light."

States and metros bucking the trend with increases in zombie foreclosures
Contrary to the national trend, 16 states saw increases in owner-vacated foreclosures compared to a year ago, including New Jersey (up 75 percent), North Carolina (up 65 percent), Oklahoma (up 37 percent), and New York (up 30 percent) and Alabama (up 29 percent).

Among metros with a population of more than 200,000, 60 metros (28 percent) posted increases in owner-vacated foreclosures compared to a year ago, including Trenton, N.J. (up 106 percent), Atlantic City, N.J. (up 98 percent), Rochester, N.Y. (up 49 percent), Washington, D.C. (up 40 percent), New York (up 38 percent) and Philadelphia (up 21 percent).

Top 20 Metros for Zombie Foreclosures
Metro Area		Total Owner-Vacated Foreclosures		Pct of Total Foreclosures		Pct Change from Q2 2014		Pct Change from Q3 2013
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA		13,366		12%		-2%		38%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA		1,229		7%		-9%		-30%
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI		7,326		17%		-27%		-43%
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX		435		13%		-47%		-50%
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD		5,405		20%		-11%		21%
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX		309		17%		-4%		-38%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV		1,031		17%		-3%		40%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL		9,869		16%		-24%		-30%
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA		1,684		24%		-12%		-22%
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH		544		15%		-27%		-52%
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA		246		6%		-10%		-62%
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI		698		26%		29%		-6%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA		465		5%		-14%		-73%
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ		776		22%		-27%		-52%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA		1,110		23%		-16%		-34%
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI		377		18%		-17%		-45%
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA		104		2%		-20%		-79%
St. Louis, MO-IL		481		33%		-43%		-70%
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL		7,509		28%		-22%		-26%
Baltimore-Towson, MD		1,374		25%		-14%		-20%

States and metros with the most vacant foreclosures
Nationwide, Florida documented the most zombie foreclosures by far of any state, with 35,913. New York posted the second highest total (12,683), followed by New Jersey (12,133), Illinois (8,678), and Ohio (4,981).

The New York metro area saw the most owner-vacated foreclosures of any metro area nationwide, with 13,366, representing 12 percent of all properties in foreclosure, followed by Miami (9,869), Tampa (7,509), Chicago (7,326), Philadelphia (5,405) and Orlando (3,732).

States and metros with highest percentage of vacant foreclosures
33 states posted a higher percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures than the national average of 18 percent, led by Oregon (36 percent), Nevada (32 percent), Kansas (31 percent) and Maine (28 percent.

Other states with above-average vacant foreclosure rates included Michigan (26 percent), Washington (26 percent), Georgia (25 percent), Arizona (24 percent), and Indiana (24 percent).

Among metros with a population of more than 200,000, 117 metro areas had a higher percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures than the national average of 18 percent, including Las Vegas, Nev. (33 percent), Tampa (28 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla. (28 percent), Rochester, N.Y. (27 percent), Lakeland, Fla. (27 percent), and Baltimore (25 percent).

States and metros with the biggest decline in zombie foreclosures
Zombie foreclosures declined from a year ago in 33 states, led by Missouri, where they were down 73 percent. Other states with big decreases in zombie foreclosures compared to a year ago included Virginia (down 59 percent), California (down 56 percent), Massachusetts (down 46 percent), New Hampshire (down 45percent), Illinois (down 44 percent) and Ohio (down 41 percent).

"The scary effects of Zombie foreclosures have been minimized across much of Ohio in 2014," said Michael Mahon, executive vice president at HER Realtors, covering the Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio markets. "Low interest rates, increased job creation and greater community education have provided resources and support to many consumers in need of help across Ohio."

Of metros with a population over 200,000, 138 metros (60 percent) posted declines in zombie foreclosures, including Portland, Ore. (down 53 percent), Cleveland (down 52 percent), Phoenix (down 52 percent), Boston (down 52 percent), and Jacksonville, Fla., (down 51 percent).

Methodology
RealtyTrac gathers data for vacant foreclosures by matching foreclosures in the RealtyTrac database with data collected from the United States Postal Service for addresses that the agency has deemed vacant or where the owner has requested a change of address.

Report License
The RealtyTrac U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales report is the result of a proprietary evaluation of information compiled by RealtyTrac; the report and any of the information in whole or in part can only be quoted, copied, published, re-published, distributed and/or re-distributed or used in any manner if the user specifically references RealtyTrac as the source for said report and/or any of the information set forth within the report.

Data Licensing and Custom Report Order
Investors, businesses and government institutions can contact RealtyTrac to license bulk foreclosure and neighborhood data or purchase customized reports. For more information contact our Data Licensing Department at 800.462.5193 or datasales@realtytrac.com.

About RealtyTrac
RealtyTrac is a leading supplier of U.S. real estate data, with nationwide parcel-level records for more than 129 million U.S. parcels that include property characteristics, tax assessor data, sales and mortgage deed records, Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) and 20 million active and historical default, foreclosure auction and bank-owned properties. RealtyTrac's housing data and foreclosure reports are relied on by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury Department, HUD, numerous state housing and banking departments, investment funds as well as millions of real estate professionals and consumers, to help evaluate housing trends and make informed decisions about real estate.

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