Vacant homes getting new life in US recovery

Newburgh, United States

BOARDED-UP homes became a ubiquitous symbol of the US housing crash, with once-prosperous neighbourhoods left to decay as mortgage defaults soared and no new buyers emerged.

Some 10 years later, the national picture has improved and many places have boomed. Although the bricks and mortar of abandoned properties scar the streets of many states, suitors are lining up in some places where tumbleweed long ago outgrew the market.