Thursday, October 24, 2013

RealtyTrac® Reports Institutional Purchases Reach New High in September With 14 Percent of all U.S. Residential Sales




Daren Blomquist
IRVINE, CA – Oct. 24, 2013 — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its September 2013 U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that U.S. residential properties, including single family homes, condominiums and townhomes, sold at an estimated annualized pace of 5,673,249 in September, up 2 percent from August and up 14 percent from September 2012.

The national median sales price of all residential properties — including both distressed and non-distressed — in September was $174,000, up 1 percent from a revised $172,000 median price in August and up 6 percent from a $164,500 median price in September 2012.

The median price of a distressed residential property — in foreclosure or bank-owned — in September was $112,000, 41 percent below the median price of $189,000 for a non-distressed residential property. Distressed sales combined accounted for 25 percent of all sales in September, up from 18 percent of all sales a year ago.

“The housing market continues to skew in favor of investors, particularly deep-pocketed institutional investors, and other buyers paying with cash,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.


“While the institutional investors are pulling back their purchases in many of the higher-priced markets — places like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle and Sacramento — they are continuing to ramp up purchases in markets where median prices are still below $200,000 — places like Jacksonville, Atlanta, Charlotte, St. Louis and Dallas.

“The availability of distressed inventory also makes a difference. For example, institutional investor purchases have rebounded in Las Vegas corresponding to a recent rebound in foreclosure activity there.

“Distressed sales remain persistently high, particularly short sales,” Blomquist added. “Markets with the biggest increases in short sales tend to be those where either foreclosure starts or scheduled foreclosure auctions have rebounded in the last 18 months — translating into more motivated short sellers — or those with a still-high percentage of underwater homeowners with negative equity.”

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

Jennifer von Pohlmann
949.502.8300, ext. 139

Brittney Marin
949.502.8300, ext. 107

Data and Report Licensing:
800.462.5193

No comments: