Thursday, February 28, 2013

Foreclosure Sales and Short Sales Account for 43% of U.S. Residential Sales in 2012, RealtyTrac Reports



Daren Blomquist
IRVINE, CA – Feb. 28, 2013 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Q4 and Year-End 2012 U.S. Foreclosure & Short Sales Report™, which shows a total of 947,995 U.S. properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned (REO) were sold during the year, a decrease of 6 percent from 2011 and down 11 percent from 2010.

These foreclosure-related sales accounted for 21 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the year, down from 23 percent of all sales in 2011 and down from 28 percent of all sales in 2010.

Properties not in foreclosure that sold as short sales in 2012 accounted for an estimated 22 percent of all residential sales — bringing the total share of distressed sales to 43 percent including both foreclosure-related sales and non-foreclosure short sales.

“Although foreclosure-related sales represent a shrinking share of total sales, primarily because of fewer bank-owned purchases, distressed sales are still a disproportionately high portion of the overall housing market,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.

“And while distressed properties — whether bank-owned, pre-foreclosure or short sales not in foreclosure — are still selling at a significant discount compared to non-distressed properties, average distressed property prices are increasing in many markets thanks to strong demand and limited inventory.” 

For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Jennifer von Pohlmann
949.502.8300, ext. 139

Ginny Walker
949.502.8300, ext. 268

Data and Report Licensing:
Data Sales Department
800.462.5193

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