Distressed Property Sales, Discounts Steady in Third Quarter

Sales of distressed homes, those in somernstage of foreclosure or bank owned (REO), accounted to 20 percent of all U.S.rnhome sales during the third quarter of 2011 compared to 22 percent of sales inrnthe second quarter according to information released Thursday byrnRealtyTrac.  One year earlier suchrndistressed sales represented 30 percent of the housing market.</p

There were 221,536 such distressedrnproperty sales to third parties, 11 percent fewer than revised second quarterrnfigures and 5 percent fewer than in the third quarter of 2010.  Pre-foreclosure sales (generally referred tornas short sales) totaled 92,824 sales or 9 percent of all sales, down 9 percentrnfrom the second quarter and nearly identical to the number one year earlierrnwhen pre-foreclosure sales represented 12 percent of the market.  Sales of REO totaled 128,712 properties, downrn13 percent quarter over quarter and 8 percent from the previous year.  REO sales made up 12 percent of all sales inrnthe quarter compared to 13 percent in Q2 and 18 percent of sales a yearrnearlier.</p

Prices for distressed homes averagedrn$165,322, up one percent from Q2 but down 3 percent from one year earlier.  The average discount from the market pricernfor distressed properties was 34 percent, the same as in the second quarter ofrn2011.  The discount one year earlierrnaveraged 37 percent.  There werernsubstantial differences, however, between the prices for pre-foreclosurernproperties which averaged $191,119, a discount of 24 percent below the averagernmarket price, and REO.  The latter had anrnaverage sales price of $146,437 in the third quarter, a discount of nearly 42rnpercent, unchanged from Q2 and down from 45 percent a year earlier.  In the second quarter the discount for pre-foreclosedrnproperties was 23 percent and was it 24 percent in the third quarter ofrn2011.  </p

In six states distressed propertiesrnsales accounted for a larger share of the market than the 20 percent nationalrnaverage.  The states were Nevada (57rnpercent), California (44 percent), Arizona (43 percent), Georgia (34 percent),rnColorado (26 percent) and Michigan (23 percent). </p

The states with the largestrndiscounts for distressed property sales were Missouri (56.5 percent) and Massachusettsrn(51 percent.)

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