Foreclosures account for 28% of real estate sales in Q1

Foreclosure sales accounted for 28 percent of U.S. home sales in the first quarter, with those properties selling for nearly 27 percent less, on average, than homes not in the foreclosure process, data aggregator RealtyTrac said in a report released today.

A total of 158,434 U.S. residential properties either owned by banks or in some stage of foreclosure sold to third parties in the first quarter, a decrease of 16 percent from fourth-quarter 2010 and a decrease of nearly 36 percent from first-quarter 2010, RealtyTrac said.

Properties in some stage of foreclosure — default, scheduled for auction or bank-owned (REO) — had an average sales price of $168,321, down 1.9 percent from fourth-quarter 2010 and down 1.5 percent from first-quarter 2010, RealtyTrac said. The 27 percent foreclosure discount for the first quarter was unchanged quarter-to-quarter, and up slightly from a 26 percent discount in first-quarter 2010.

"While foreclosure sales continue to account for an unusually high percentage of all residential home sales, sales volume is well off the peak we saw in the first quarter of 2009, when nearly 350,000 foreclosure properties sold to third parties," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s CEO, in a statement.

"While this is probably helping to keep home prices relatively stable, it is also delaying the housing recovery. At the first quarter foreclosure sales pace, it would take exactly three years to clear the current inventory of 1.9 million properties already on the banks’ books, or in foreclosure."

A total of 107,143 bank-owned (REO) properties sold to third parties in the first quarter, down nearly 30 percent year-over-year, at an average discount of 35 percent, up from an average discount of 33 percent in first-quarter 2010. REOs comprised nearly 19 percent of all sales last quarter.

Another 51,291 preforeclosure properties — homes in default or scheduled for auction — sold to third parties in the first quarter, down 45 percent year-over-year, at an average discount of 9 percent, down from an average discount of 14 percent in first-quarter 2010. Preforeclosure sales comprised nearly 9 percent of all sales last quarter.

It took an average of 176 days for an REO to sell after it had been repossessed; preforeclosure properties were in the foreclosure process for 228 days on average before selling, RealtyTrac said.

Nevada, California and Arizona had the highest share of foreclosure sales. Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky had the largest foreclosure discounts.

Source: RealtyTrac