Fla. home to 1/3 of all vacant U.S. foreclosures IRVINE, Calif. – June 19, 2013 – As of June, the U.S. had 167,680 vacant homes that were in the foreclosure process but not yet banked owned – 20 percent of all U.S. properties that are somewhere in the foreclosure process, according to a RealtyTrac released today. And Florida has the most owners abandoning their home before a lender officially takes it back. At least 55,503 homes in the state sit empty and ready for new owners, but they’re not on the market because banks haven’t completed the foreclosure process. These owner-vacated foreclosures are in addition to the nation’s 544,274 bank-owned homes nationwide that have been foreclosed but not sold to a third party. Findings • Of the nation’s 167,680 vacant foreclosures, Florida documented the most by far of any state – 55,503, or 33 percent of the national total. Illinois posted the second highest total (17,672), followed by California (9,802), Ohio (9,723), and New York (9,173). • Florida also accounted for the most vacant foreclosures by zip code – 85 of the top 100 nationally, led by zip code 34668 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan statistical area. • States where the percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures was above the national average of 20 percent also included Indiana (32 percent), Oregon (28 percent), Nevada (28 percent), Washington (27 percent) and Georgia (27 percent). • Chicago documented the most owner-vacated foreclosures of any metro area nationwide, with 14,717, representing 17 percent of all properties in foreclosure, followed by Miami (13,901), New York (10,074), Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater (9,998), and Orlando (5,569). • Vacancy rates were higher on lower-end foreclosures: 29 percent on homes valued below $50,000 and 25 percent on homes valued between $50,000 and $100,000. However, 12 percent of homes valued $1 million or more were vacant. • Among the five servicers involved in the national mortgage settlement, Bank of America and GMAC (Ally) had the highest percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures, with 23 percent, followed by Chase with 21 percent and Wells Fargo and Citi tied with 20 percent. “Efforts to prevent unnecessary foreclosures and mitigate their impact on home values have resulted in a foreclosure process that takes an average of 477 days nationwide, and more than two years in some states – which is holding many of these must-sell properties off the market,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously, they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand,” he adds. “Given these market dynamics, it’s not surprising to see that Florida, Illinois and New Jersey – states with three of the four longest foreclosure timelines – have all had laws take effect in the last six months that speed up the foreclosure process on vacant properties. These laws should help provide some extra supply and possibly help reduce the threat of another housing price bubble forming in these markets.” Report methodology RealtyTrac compared its address-level data of properties actively in the foreclosure process (in default or scheduled for foreclosure auction) with data from the U.S. Postal Service indicating that the homeowner already moved. © 2013 Florida Realtors®
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 14:40:54 +0000
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