Zombie foreclosures, abandoned homes haunt region

Clearwater, St. Petersburg and some other nearby towns have a zombie problem. Not The Walking Dead kind, but the foreclosure kind.

That’s because Pinellas County, according to a report from real estate analytics firm Attom Data Solutions, had the fourth-highest rate of so-called zombie foreclosures among large counties nationwide in the second fiscal quarter. Out of all its foreclosures, Pinellas has an 11.3% rate of zombies — properties in foreclosure but abandoned. Ahead of Pinellas are counties covering Cleveland, Binghamton, New York and Baltimore. The report analyzed 421 counties with at least 50,000 residential properties and 500 properties in foreclosure.

According to Attom’s second-quarter 2021 Vacant Property and Zombie Foreclosure Report, some 1.4 million residential properties are vacant in the United States, which represents 1.4% of all homes. In addition, one of every 12,256 homes in the second quarter sat empty in the foreclosure process, up from one in 14,825 in the first quarter of 2021. That’s also up from one in 12,967 in the first quarter of 2020.

The zombie foreclosures tally, states the report, has climbed despite the ongoing federally imposed moratorium on foreclosures, aimed at helping homeowners get through economic troubles stemming from the pandemic. Some private lenders also have voluntarily offered mortgage extensions.

“The latest numbers show a spike in zombie properties during the second quarter that stands out compared to recent times, especially given the moratorium,” Attom chief product officer Todd Teta says in the statement. “It may simply be due to lenders foreclosing on homes that were already abandoned. We are watching that closely to see what it means and whether it’s the start of new trend.”