Done Deals: RealtyTrac® Reports Pre-Foreclosure Sales Volume Up From Year Ago; REO Sales Volume Down; More Than 907,000 Foreclosure-Related Sales For All 2011

IRVINE, CA – Mar. 1, 2012 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Q4 and Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 24 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the fourth quarter — up from 20 percent of all sales in the previous quarter, but down from 26 percent of all sales in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Third parties purchased a total of 204,080 residential properties in some stage of pre-foreclosure (NOD, LIS, NTS, NFS) or bank-owned (REO) during the fourth quarter, down 8 percent from a revised third quarter total and down 2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

That brought total foreclosure-related sales in 2011 to 907,138, down 2 percent from 2010 and accounting for 23 percent of all sales during the year.

The average sales price of homes in foreclosure or bank owned was $164,944 in the fourth quarter, nearly identical to the average foreclosure-related sales price in the previous quarter and down 5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

The average price of a foreclosure-related sale was 29 percent below the average price of a non-foreclosure sale during the quarter, down from a 34 percent foreclosure discount in the third quarter and down from a 35 percent foreclosure discount in the fourth quarter of 2010.

“Sales of foreclosures in the fourth quarter continued to be slowed by questions surrounding proper foreclosure paperwork and procedures,” said Brandon Moore (top right photo), chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“Even so, foreclosures accounted for nearly one in every four sales during the quarter and for the entire year. We expect to see foreclosure-related sales increase in 2012, particularly pre-foreclosure sales, as lenders start to more aggressively dispose of distressed assets held up by the mortgage servicing gridlock over the past 18 months.”