A public dataset · Cinch Home Buyers
The NC Distressed Property Index
The public dataset tracking property distress across North Carolina — compiled from county records, published free for anyone to use.
North Carolina distressed-property signals by county
43,700 flagged properties across 73 counties · counts track feed depth, not a county-to-county ranking · Updated Aug 2026
Coastal counties on the map, including New Hanover and Brunswick, carry their own considerations beyond this index — owners there can start with our guide to selling flood zone homes in NC.
Data table — all 73 counties with figures
| County | Flagged | Estate-linked | Tax delinquent | Tax foreclosure | Code violation | Foreclosure action | Non-market transfer | NCDOT right-of-way | Demolition permit | Out-of-state owner | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford | 13,680 | 720 | 8,156 | 3,103 | 1,420 | 3,292 | — | — | — | Suppressed | |
| New Hanover | 7,846 | 6,227 | 1,773 | — | No feed | 9 | — | — | — | 713 | |
| Mecklenburg | 4,550 | 532 | 1,803 | 285 | 1,873 | 62 | — | — | — | 26 | |
| Cumberland | 3,602 | 1,462 | — | — | 2,134 | 42 | — | — | — | 376 | |
| Gaston | 2,554 | 2,495 | — | — | No feed | 10 | — | — | — | 205 | |
| Alamance | 1,974 | 1,965 | — | — | No feed | 9 | — | — | — | 129 | |
| Durham | 1,789 | 709 | — | — | 728 | 10 | 299 | — | 3 | 134 | |
| Wake | 1,698 | 1,310 | — | 4 | No feed | 33 | — | — | — | 388 | |
| Iredell | 1,565 | 1,451 | — | — | No feed | 5 | — | — | — | 187 | |
| Onslow | 1,475 | 1,438 | — | — | No feed | 39 | — | — | — | 209 | |
| Pitt | 1,220 | 877 | — | — | No feed | 14 | 379 | — | — | — | |
| Brunswick | 498 | 489 | — | — | No feed | 9 | — | — | — | 90 | |
| Orange | 460 | 459 | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | |
| Buncombe | 213 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | 212 | |
| Wilson | 124 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 6 | — | 118 | — | — | |
| Johnston | 115 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 13 | — | 19 | — | 83 | |
| Nash | 87 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 17 | — | 70 | — | — | |
| Wayne | 39 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 21 | — | 18 | — | — | |
| Forsyth | 38 | No feed | — | 9 | No feed | 29 | — | — | — | 2 | |
| Edgecombe | 25 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 12 | — | 13 | — | — | |
| Davidson | 12 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 12 | — | — | — | — | |
| Craven | 11 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 11 | — | — | — | — | |
| Cabarrus | 8 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 8 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Harnett | 7 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 7 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Cleveland | 6 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 6 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Lee | 6 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 6 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Lenoir | 6 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 6 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Union | 6 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 6 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Caldwell | 5 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 5 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Catawba | 5 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 5 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Rowan | 5 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 5 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Stanly | 4 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 4 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Carteret | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Columbus | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Duplin | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Henderson | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Jackson | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| McDowell | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Richmond | 3 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 3 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Burke | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Currituck | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Haywood | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Pasquotank | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Pender | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Perquimans | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Randolph | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Robeson | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Rockingham | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Stokes | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Surry | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Yadkin | 2 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 2 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Alexander | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Alleghany | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Beaufort | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Bladen | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Camden | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Chatham | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Cherokee | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Franklin | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Granville | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Hoke | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Lincoln | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Macon | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Madison | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Martin | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Mitchell | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Moore | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Northampton | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Person | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Polk | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Rutherford | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Scotland | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
| Vance | 1 | No feed | — | — | No feed | 1 | — | — | — | — | Under 10 flagged |
Source: NC Distressed Property Index — methodology · Aggregates only · 2026-08-27 snapshot
Snapshot 2026-08-27
What the index counts
Nine public-record signals. A property enters the index carrying at least one of them.
Probate / estate linkage
Tied to an estate in transition per estate-related public records.
Tax delinquency
Appears on a county property-tax delinquency docket.
Code violation
An open municipal code-enforcement case attached to the property.
Foreclosure action
Pending, noticed, in its statutory upset-bid window, or stalled after a passed auction — never a completed foreclosure.
Non-market transfer
Most recent deed recorded at $0 consideration — inherited, quitclaim, intra-family, divorce.
NCDOT right-of-way
The property is involved in a state right-of-way action.
Also tracked
Tax foreclosure
Out-of-state ownership
Demolition permit
Two or more signals
These figures overlap. One property can carry several signals, so the tiles add to more than the 43,700 properties in the index. A county showing 0 for a signal has no feed for it — that is absence of coverage, never a finding of zero distress. Cross-signal counts are floors: two signals can only meet where the index carries both feeds for the same county and the feeds share a matchable key.
Owners named in a foreclosure action can look into how to stop a foreclosure in NC before the upset-bid window closes. Owners facing an NCDOT right-of-way filing can estimate your land’s value before responding to the state’s offer.
All 73 counties · Snapshot 2026-08-27
County table
These are counts, not a ranking. Each county's number reflects how deep its public-record feeds run — New Hanover's estate feed is comprehensive, Guilford's delinquency docket is large — so counties cannot be read against each other as “worst” or “best.”
| Guilford | 13,680 | 720 | 8,156 | 1,420 | 3,292 | · | · | supp. | 3,542 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Hanover | 7,846 | 6,227 | 1,773 | · | 9 | · | · | 713 | 862 |
| Mecklenburg | 4,550 | 532 | 1,803 | 1,873 | 62 | · | · | 26 | 40 |
| Cumberland | 3,602 | 1,462 | · | 2,134 | 42 | · | · | 376 | 405 |
| Gaston | 2,554 | 2,495 | · | · | 10 | · | · | 205 | 157 |
| Alamance | 1,974 | 1,965 | · | · | 9 | · | · | 129 | 129 |
| Durham | 1,789 | 709 | · | 728 | 10 | 299 | · | 134 | 87 |
| Wake | 1,698 | 1,310 | · | · | 33 | · | · | 388 | 37 |
| Iredell | 1,565 | 1,451 | · | · | 5 | · | · | 187 | 235 |
| Onslow | 1,475 | 1,438 | · | · | 39 | · | · | 209 | 212 |
| Pitt | 1,220 | 877 | · | · | 14 | 379 | · | · | 51 |
| Brunswick | 498 | 489 | · | · | 9 | · | · | 90 | 91 |
| Orange | 460 | 459 | · | · | 2 | · | · | · | 1 |
| Buncombe | 213 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | 212 | · |
| Wilson | 124 | · | · | · | 6 | · | 118 | · | · |
| Johnston | 115 | · | · | · | 13 | · | 19 | 83 | 1 |
| Nash | 87 | · | · | · | 17 | · | 70 | · | · |
| Wayne | 39 | · | · | · | 21 | · | 18 | · | · |
| Forsyth | 38 | · | · | · | 29 | · | · | 2 | 2 |
| Edgecombe | 25 | · | · | · | 12 | · | 13 | · | · |
| Davidson | 12 | · | · | · | 12 | · | · | · | · |
| Craven | 11 | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | · |
51 more counties with fewer than 10 flagged properties — too few to describe conditions; see coverage notes above
| |||||||||
| Total · 73 counties | 43,700 | 20,134 | 11,732 | 6,155 | 3,783 | 678 | 238 | 3,708 | 5,861 |
No county matches that search.
A · means the index carries no feed for that signal in that county — absence of coverage, never a finding of zero distress. supp. marks a figure suppressed because cross-source join quality is insufficient. The 2+ signals column is a floor: two signals can only meet where both feeds exist for the same county and share a matchable key. Out-of-state totals count every flagged property statewide, including Guilford's suppressed per-county figure, so the column will not add to its printed total. Wake County’s estate and foreclosure-action mix is common enough to warrant its own breakdown — see Wake County foreclosures explained.
04 How it is built
Methodology, and what this data cannot tell you
Version 1.1, updated August 2026. One click from every chart on this page.
Where the data comes from
- Public parcel feeds — ownership type, mailing state, recorded deed type and date.
- Register of Deeds feeds — recorded instruments, including estate-related recordings.
- County tax dockets — published delinquency and tax-foreclosure dockets.
- Municipal code-enforcement feeds — open cases from four municipal sources.
- Substitute-trustee sale notices and NCDOT right-of-way records — owners facing a right-of-way filing can get a baseline for how much an acre of land is worth in NC before responding to the state’s offer.
- No listing sites, no MLS, no private databases, and no individual look-ups. Whole public feeds in, aggregates out.
What it cannot tell you
- Signals are not outcomes. A signal is a public-record condition, not a confirmed foreclosure, sale, abandonment, or hardship.
- The estate share is a share of the index, not of NC housing — estate feeds are themselves index sources.
- Cross-signal counts are floors. All 368 estate + tax-delinquency matches fall in New Hanover, the only county where those two feeds share a key.
- Period-over-period differences are not market movement. Most change between releases comes from feeds being added or repaired.
- Aggregates only. No addresses, owner names, parcel IDs, or record excerpts are ever published.
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Download the data
County-level aggregates only. No addresses, no owner names, no parcel IDs — ever.
Inaugural edition
The NC Housing
Distress Report
Q3 2026 · Data as of 2026-08-27
The quarterly write-up of the index: what the numbers show, what they cannot show, and every per-county figure behind them. Written to be quoted, republished, and argued with.
Working on a story?
Custom county cuts and calculation notes on request. Analyst: Ryan Smith, founder, Cinch Home Buyers.