National vacancy rate holds as zombie home numbers ease
Investor-held properties widen the gap
Among the country’s 24.9 million investor-owned properties, 879,532 — or 3.5% — sat vacant in the third quarter, more than double the national rate. Indiana led with a 7% investor vacancy rate, followed by Illinois at 6.2% and Oklahoma at 6%.
At the metro level, Youngstown, Ohio led all major markets with a zombie foreclosure rate of 12.1%, followed by Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 11.6% and Baltimore, Maryland at 11.5%.
At the zip-code level, 33708 in Saint Petersburg, Florida recorded the highest single-area zombie rate in the country at 38.3%.
The concentration of vacant investor-held homes in Midwest and Sun Belt markets is a reminder of how the effects of elevated foreclosure activity on local housing affordability continue to play out differently region by region.
New Hampshire (0.3%), Vermont (0.4%) and New Jersey (0.5%) posted the tightest vacancy conditions nationally.
