RealtyTrac Reports Zombies up More Than 20 Percent in New York City, Washington, DC and Philadelphia; New York City, Miami, Tampa and Chicago Post Highest Zombie Foreclosure Totals

IRVINE, CA — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, 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.

Daren Blomquist

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.”

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).

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Jennifer von Pohlmann

949.502.8300949.502.8300, ext. 139

jennifer.vonpohlmann@realtytrac.com

Ginny Walker

949.502.8300949.502.8300, ext. 268

Ginny.walker@realtytrac.com