Where Homes Aren't Selling: Expired Listings by State (2026)

1,234,851 properties in the U.S. currently carry an expired MLS status. The owner listed the home, it didn't sell, and the listing agreement ran out.

That seller has already made the hard decision: they want to move on. The MLS just didn't give them a buyer.

Here's the number I'd focus on. 49% of those properties (604,289) belong to absentee owners. They don't live in the house, and they're still paying to hold it.

Stack one more filter and the list gets sharper. 452,249 expired properties have both 50%+ equity and an absentee owner. That's 37% of the total, and it's the group I'd start with.

How We Counted

This is a full count, not a sample. We matched MLS status to county parcel records for every property in the DealMachine database.

• Expired status: the property's current MLS status is expired. It was listed, didn't sell, and isn't active, pending, or sold today.
• Share of parcels: expired properties divided by all parcels in the state. This adjusts for state size, so Florida and Iowa can be compared fairly.
• Overlaps: standard DealMachine filters for 50%+ estimated equity, absentee owner, free and clear (no recorded mortgage), senior owner, and vacant.

Data was pulled in September 2026. A same-month recheck moved the national total by less than 1%, and every rounded figure in this post held. The state-level stacked counts below come from that September 28 recount.

Expired Listings by State: The Top 8

Ranked by total count.

Rank	State	Properties	Share of parcels
1	Florida	191,789	1.78%
2	Texas	142,617	1.02%
3	California	96,820	0.81%
4	Georgia	48,657	1.00%
5	New York	43,489	0.69%
6	North Carolina	41,698	0.71%
7	Illinois	39,540	0.68%
8	Arizona	37,789	1.25%

Three patterns stand out.

Florida is its own category

Florida holds 191,789 failed listings. That's 15.5% of the national total in one state, and roughly 1 in every 56 Florida parcels. No other state is close on either count or share.

Texas is second by volume at 142,617, but its 1.02% rate is closer to Georgia's than to Florida's.

The Sun Belt leads by share

Sort by share instead of volume and the list changes. Florida (1.78%) is followed by Nevada (1.26%), Arizona (1.25%), and Colorado (1.20%). Nevada and Colorado don't make the top 8 by count, but a listing in either state is more likely to expire than one in California or New York.

Here's how I read it. These are markets where a lot of sellers priced off peak-era comps. When buyers pulled back, those listings sat until they expired.

The Midwest is the tightest market

North Dakota (0.26%), Ohio (0.39%), and Iowa (0.40%) have the lowest rates in the country. Florida's rate is almost 7 times North Dakota's.

Those numbers change how you read a lead. In Florida, a failed listing may just mean the market is soft. In Ohio, a home that fails to sell usually has a specific problem: price, condition, or location. That's often a better setup for an investor who buys as-is.

The Equity and Absentee Overlaps

The state ranking tells you where the volume is. The overlaps tell you which of these owners can actually do a deal.

Expired properties that are also…	Count	Share
50%+ equity	826,468	67%
Absentee-owned	604,289	49%
Free and clear	483,171	39%
Senior-owned	235,900	19%
Vacant	48,438	4%

67% have at least half their value in equity. Most of these homes didn't fail because the owner was underwater. Let me give you a simple example. A $300,000 house with 50% equity has a $150,000 loan. A $240,000 cash offer still leaves the seller $90,000 before closing costs. There's room to negotiate. For the full picture on high-equity owners, see our Deep Equity Property Index.

49% are absentee-owned. These are landlords, heirs, and owners who already moved. They pay taxes, insurance, and upkeep on a house they don't live in, and the failed listing extended that cost. Our guide to absentee owner lists covers how to work this segment.

39% are free and clear. No lender has to approve anything, which makes seller financing a real option. It's the same group we tracked in free and clear properties by state.

48,438 are vacant. Small group, highest carrying cost per owner. If you target vacant homes already, this is the subset where the owner has also tried and failed to sell.

Where the Best Leads Are: Equity Plus Absentee by State

Volume is one thing. Quality is another. Here's how many expired properties in the top markets have both signals at once: at least 50% equity and an owner who doesn't live there.

State	Expired + 50%+ equity + absentee	Share of state's expired properties
Florida	85,680	44.7%
Texas	52,746	37.3%
California	35,173	36.3%
Georgia	16,703	35.2%
Arizona	12,846	33.9%
U.S. total	452,249	36.9%

Florida isn't just the biggest pool. It's also the best one. 44.7% of Florida's expired properties carry both signals, compared with about 35% in the other large states. That's a meaningful gap on a list this size: roughly 15,000 more qualified leads than Florida would have at the national rate.

The other four states land within a few points of each other. What that tells you is simple. Outside Florida, roughly 1 in 3 expired properties is worth a closer look. Build your list, then expect about a third of it to have real deal potential.

Who This Is For

• Wholesalers and flippers: high equity plus absentee ownership gives you discount room and a seller with low emotional attachment.
• Buy-and-hold investors: free and clear owners are the natural audience for seller-financed or subject-to style offers.
• Anyone in a tight market: in states like Ohio or Iowa, the list is small enough to work by hand.

One thing most beginners miss. Agents call these owners too, so your edge isn't being first. It's offering what the MLS couldn't: a firm price, a fast close, and no repairs.

What Most Investors Get Wrong About Failed Listings

Four mistakes show up again and again.

1. Pitching like an agent. Agents call to win the relist. The owner has heard that pitch. Your offer is different: a known price and a closing date, with no showings.
2. Assuming the house is the problem. Sometimes it is. But 67% of these owners have half their value in equity. In most cases the price or the timing was off, not the owner's finances.
3. Working the full list. 1.2 million leads is not a list, it's a data set. Stacking equity and absentee ownership cuts it by almost two thirds before you spend a dollar on marketing.
4. Waiting. Many of these owners will try again with a new agent or a lower price. Once a property goes active again, you're competing with the MLS instead of replacing it.

How to Build an Expired + High-Equity List

This isn't complicated, but you do need the right process.

1. Pick your county. Start with one market you know.
2. Filter by market status. Set Market Status to Expired Listings.
3. Add equity. Set Estimated Equity Percentage to 50% or higher.
4. Stack one more signal. Absentee owner, free and clear, or vacant. One extra filter is usually enough.
5. Get contact info. Skip trace the list, then start with mail. For calls and texts, follow Do Not Call and TCPA rules.
6. Re-run it weekly. Properties drop off the list when they relist or sell. A weekly refresh keeps you working owners who are still off the market.

For scripts and follow-up cadence, our step-by-step investor guide covers the outreach side.

Find Your County's Expired, High-Equity Owners

The national number is 826,468. The number that matters is the one in your county. Pull every expired listing in your county with 50%+ equity in DealMachine.

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