IRVINE, CA. – May 31, 2012 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Q1 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 26 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the first quarter — up from 22 percent of all sales in the fourth quarter and up from 25 percent of all sales in the first quarter of 2011.
Third parties purchased a total of 233,299 residential properties in some stage of pre-foreclosure (defaults and scheduled foreclosure auctions) or bank-owned (REO) during the first quarter, an increase of 8 percent from the previous quarter and virtually unchanged from the first quarter of 2011.
The average sales price of homes in foreclosure or bank owned was $161,214 in the first quarter, down 1 percent from the previous quarter and down 2 percent from the first quarter of 2011. T
hat average sales price was 27 percent below the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure or bank-owned during the quarter — matching a 27 percent foreclosure discount in the previous quarter but down from a 29 percent foreclosure discount in the first quarter of 2011.
“Foreclosure-related sales picked up in the first quarter, particularly pre-foreclosure sales where a distressed homeowner is selling to avoid foreclosure — typically via short sale,” said Brandon Moore (top right photo), chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
“Those pre-foreclosure sales hit a three-year high in the first quarter even as the average pre-foreclosure sales price dropped to a record low for our report. Lenders are approving more aggressively priced short sales, which in turn is resulting in more successful short sale transactions.
“Meanwhile the average price of a bank-owned home is stabilizing and even increasing in some areas where a slowdown in REO activity over the past year has resulted in a restricted supply of REO homes available,” Moore continued.
“Still, REO sales did increase on a quarterly basis in 21 states, indicating that lenders are still working through a bottleneck of unsold REO inventory in many areas.”
For a complete copy of the company’s news release and full statistics, please contact:
Christine Stricker
949.502.8300, ext. 268
Michelle Schneider
949.502.8300, ext. 139
Order Custom Data:
Tyler White
949.502.8300, ext. 158
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