Toledo area has 10th-highest rate of vacant homes

11/7/2018

The Toledo area has the 10th-highest rate of home vacancies in the nation, according to a report by a real estate data firm.

Of 194,274 single family homes and condos in metro Toledo, 5,709 were vacant, for a vacancy rate of 2.9 percent at the end of the third quarter, according to statistics compiled by Attom Data Solutions.

At nearly 7 percent, Flint, Mich., had the highest vacancy rate of 153 metro areas that were examined. Youngstown was second-highest at 3.8 percent.

Lucas County had a vacancy rate of 3.9 percent through September with 5,298 single family homes or condos vacant out of 136,150 total housing units. That was the 15th-highest rate among 405 counties nationwide analyzed by Attom.

The county with the highest housing vacancy rate was Baltimore City County in Maryland at 7.8 percent. Genesee County in Michigan, which includes Flint, had the second-highest rate at 7 percent.

Overall, nearly 1,447,906 U.S. single family homes and condos were vacant at the end of the third quarter, or about 1.5 percent of all homes. That was down from 1.6 percent at the end of the third quarter last year.

Attom also tracks vacant homes in the foreclosure process — properties it calls “zombie” homes — and metro Toledo had 41 such properties out of 792 pre-foreclosure homes. The Toledo area’s zombie rate was 5.2 percent. A year ago the rate was 6 percent.

Lucas County had 40 zombie homes out of 702 pre-foreclosure homes for a rate of 5.7 percent. A year ago it was 6.4 percent.

The Buffalo area had the highest metro zombie rate at 15 percent, while Cambria County in Johnstown, Pa., had the largest county zombie rate at 28.6 percent.

Nationally, there were 10,291 zombie homes at the end of the third quarter, or 3.4 percent of all homes actively in the foreclosure process. That was down from 14,312 a year ago.

“The number of vacant foreclosures is now less than one-fourth of the more than 44,000 in 2013 when we first began tracking these ‘zombie’ homes,” Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom, said. “Policy solutions such as land banks designed to mitigate the ripple effects of vacant properties on neighborhoods and cities have had a substantial impact, and a booming housing market in many areas of the country is lifting all boats. There are still high concentrations of ‘zombie’ homes and other vacant homes in some local markets and submarkets, but those high concentrations are becoming fewer and farther between.” 

Attom also looked at the investment home market and found the Toledo area had 50,376 homes purchased by investors who did not live in them. At the end of the third quarter there were 4,112 vacant investment homes, or a rate of 8.2 percent. A year ago there were 5,223 vacant investment homes.

In Lucas County, there are 30,410 investment homes and 3,819 that are vacant for a rate of 12.6 percent. A year ago there were 4,920 vacant investment homes.