Number of zombie properties inches up in 4Q

The number of zombie properties slightly rose in the fourth quarter, but overall, the increase was minimal as home price appreciation has continued to prop up most homeowners.

Close to 8,900 residential zombie properties were sitting vacant, a 1.4% increase from the third quarter and a 15.3% increase year-over-year, a report published Tuesday by real estate data provider Attom said.

The slight climb in zombie properties, which marks a seventh straight quarterly rise, "represents only a tiny portion of the nation's total housing stock, just one of every 11,412 homes around the U.S," the report said. About 1.3 million properties in the U.S. are currently sitting vacant, a number unchanged from the prior quarter. Meanwhile, 320,765 properties in the nation are in the process of foreclosure, up 1.7% from the previous quarter. 

"The ongoing strength of the U.S. housing market continues to benefit neighborhoods around the country in so many ways, with the near-total lack of zombie foreclosures standing out as one striking example," said Rob Barber, CEO for ATTOM, in a press release.

"Rising equity flowing from rising home values has not only kept foreclosure cases from spiking since the moratorium was lifted. It also keeps giving delinquent homeowners a valuable resource they can use to either stave off eviction or sell their homes and move on."

The median home value rose 11% during the spring home buying season, hitting a record of $350,000, the report said. The growth has helped prop up homeowner wealth, with at least 95% of those with mortgages having "at least some equity built up" and has likely kept the abandonment of properties at a minimum.

Other findings in the report included that Peoria County, Illinois and Baltimore City, Maryland had the highest foreclosure rate of such abandoned properties, while New York had the highest ratio of zombie homes to all residential properties in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, among the 23.6 million investor-owned homes, close to 842,00 sit vacant, according to the data vendor. The highest levels of vacant investor-owned homes are in Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma and Alabama.