NATIONAL VACANCY RATE DOESN'T BUDGE IN THIRD QUARTER

Overall vacancy rate held steady at 1.3 percent; Rate of "zombie" homes fell slightly to 3.3 percent

IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, the leading provider of property data, AI-powered analytics, and real estate intelligence solutions, today released its latest Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report showing that 1.3 percent of residential properties in the United States were vacant in the third quarter of the year. That was the same rate as the previous quarter as well as the third 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 country's 104.6 million residential properties, 259,666 were in the foreclosure process in the third quarter of 2026. About 3.3 percent of those, or 8,482 properties, were "zombies," meaning the owners had abandoned the properties before the end of their foreclosure proceedings. That zombie rate was slightly lower than the 3.4 percent of properties posted in both the prior quarter and at the same time last year.

"It remains very hard to find an empty home for prospective buyers in most regions," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "In 19 states, the home vacancy rate is below 1 percent, creating a bottleneck that is helping to keep prices high."

Zombie homes decline in just over half of states

The number of zombie properties rose in 21 states between the second and third quarters of 2026.

Among states with at least 50 zombie properties, the largest quarter-over-quarter increases were in Kentucky (up 56.8 percent to 58 zombie properties); Colorado (up 30.1 percent to 95); Arizona (up 19.4 percent to 86); Maryland (up 18.9 percent to 151); and Indiana (up 17 percent to 344).

The states with the largest decline in zombie properties were Georgia (down 22.8 percent to 78); Texas (down 17.4 percent to 166); Ohio (down 10.8 percent to 602); Minnesota (down 10 percent to 54); and California (down 8 percent to 298).

Vacancy rates below 1 percent in 19 states

The states with the highest overall home vacancy rates in the third quarter were Oklahoma (2.4 percent); Kansas (2.4 percent); Alabama (2.2 percent); West Virginia (2.1 percent); and Missouri (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 (0.5 percent)

Zombie rates highest in Midwest cities

Out of 140 metropolitan statistical areas with sufficient data to analyze, meaning they had at least 100,00 residential properties and at least 50 properties in the foreclosure process, the highest zombie rates were in Youngstown, OH (12.1 percent of homes in foreclosure were vacant); Cedar Rapids, IA (11.6 percent); Baltimore, MD (11.5 percent); Fort Wayne, IN (11.1 percent); and Akron, OH (10.5 percent).

The lowest zombie rates were in Bridgeport, CT (0 percent); Huntsville, AL (0 percent); Trenton, NJ (0.1 percent); Provo, UT (0.2 percent); and Atlantic City, NJ (0.4 percent).

Investors holding more vacant properties

Out of 24.9 million properties owned by institutional investors, 879,532, or 3.5 percent, were vacant in the third quarter of 2026—more than double the nation's overall vacancy rate.

The states with the highest vacancy rates among investor-owned homes were Indiana (7 percent), Illinois (6.2 percent), Oklahoma (6 percent), Kansas (5.9 percent), and Alabama (5.9 percent).

The states with the lowest vacancy rates for investor-owned properties were New Hampshire (0.9 percent), Vermont (1 percent), Idaho (1.3 percent), North Dakota (1.5 percent), and New Jersey (1.5 percent).

Two Indianapolis zip codes in top five for home vacancy rates

There were 2,511 zip codes with sufficient data to be included in ATTOM's analysis, meaning they had at least 1,000 residential properties and at least 25 properties in the foreclosure process in the third quarter of 2026. Of those, the highest zombie rates were in 33708 in Saint Petersburg, FL (38.3 percent); 88310 in Alamogordo, NM (36.7 percent); 46201 in Indianapolis, IN (34.1 percent); 34652 in New Port Richey, FL (32.6 percent); and 46208 in Indianapolis, IN (32.6 percent)

Conclusion

ATTOM's third quarter analysis of vacant and zombie homes found that the national vacancy rate held firm at 1.3 percent despite vacancy rates dropping in a majority of states. The national zombie home rate decreased slightly to 3.3 percent.

Report Methodology

ATTOM analyzed county tax assessor data for nearly 104.6 million residential properties for vacancy, broken down by foreclosure status and owner-occupancy status in the third quarter of 2026. Only metropolitan statistical areas with at least 100,000 residential properties and 50 properties in pre-foreclosure, counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and zip codes with at least 1,000 residential properties and 25 in pre-foreclosure 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 160+ 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
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Data and Report Licensing:
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SOURCE ATTOM