Foreclosure sales accounted for 26 percent of U.S. home sales in 2010, with those properties selling for more than 28 percent less, on average, than homes not in the foreclosure process, data aggregator RealtyTrac said in its latest report.
A total of 831,574 U.S. residential properties either owned by banks or in some stage of foreclosure sold to third parties in 2010, a decrease of 31 percent from 2009 and a decrease of nearly 14 percent from 2008, RealtyTrac said.
Homes in foreclosure accounted for a larger percentage of sales in 2009 — 29 percent — but their share of total sales was up from 23 percent in 2008.
While controversy over loan servicers’ handling of foreclosure paperwork put a dent in fourth quarter foreclosure sales, the impact of the so-called robo-signing controversy seemed to be waning in the final month of the year.
RealtyTrac recorded a total of 149,303 foreclosure sales in the fourth quarter, down 22 percent from the previous quarter and down 45 percent from the same period a year ago. That decline was in spite of a 21 percent monthly uptick in foreclosure sales volume in December.
"The catch-22 for 2011 is that while accelerating foreclosure sales will help clear the oversupply of distressed properties and return balance to the market in the long run, in the short term a high percentage of foreclosure sales will continue to weigh down home prices," said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio in a statement.
A total of 512,886 bank-owned (REO) properties sold to third parties in 2010 at an average discount of 36 percent, up from an average discount of 33 percent in 2009.
Another 318,688 pre-foreclosure properties — homes in default or scheduled for auction — sold to third parties in 2010 at an average discount of 15 percent, down from an average discount of nearly 17 percent in 2009.
2010 foreclosure sales
| State/region | Foreclosure sales | Change from ’09 | % of all sales | Avg. price | Avg. discount |
|
U.S. Total |
831,574 |
-31.14 |
25.96 |
$172,030 |
28.13 |
|
Alabama |
3,425 |
11.82 |
15.88 |
$140,157 |
19.49 |
|
Alaska |
702 |
-17.99 |
10.42 |
$226,403 |
15.28 |
|
Arizona |
65,461 |
-29.36 |
49.17 |
$138,321 |
25.26 |
|
Arkansas |
2,859 |
-34.19 |
15.08 |
$121,482 |
20.03 |
|
California |
211,839 |
-41.58 |
44.47 |
$251,693 |
39.31 |
|
Colorado |
17,410 |
-25.39 |
24.67 |
$186,046 |
28.25 |
|
Delaware |
1,142 |
-6.93 |
13.92 |
$170,273 |
33.27 |
|
Florida |
133,623 |
-7.85 |
36.20 |
$120,976 |
28.61 |
|
Georgia |
27,657 |
-41.19 |
29.38 |
$119,940 |
37.20 |
|
Hawaii |
1,670 |
11.33 |
11.06 |
$380,661 |
14.32 |
|
Idaho |
6,882 |
28.49 |
28.42 |
$159,362 |
11.26 |
|
Illinois |
29,194 |
-21.47 |
26.34 |
$138,395 |
38.63 |
|
Indiana |
11,669 |
-39.66 |
19.27 |
$108,705 |
26.91 |
|
Iowa |
1,733 |
-18.41 |
5.15 |
$97,820 |
32.44 |
|
Kentucky |
3,795 |
-0.63 |
13.66 |
$94,268 |
40.48 |
|
Louisiana |
2,524 |
-4.36 |
9.70 |
$131,574 |
25.15 |
|
Maryland |
12,706 |
-17.70 |
17.93 |
$209,789 |
30.41 |
|
Michigan |
40,901 |
-34.96 |
32.99 |
$73,771 |
37.66 |
|
Minnesota |
7,171 |
-33.89 |
12.40 |
$148,225 |
25.65 |
|
Missouri |
11,485 |
-33.77 |
17.18 |
$114,419 |
24.73 |
|
Montana |
684 |
39.88 |
7.85 |
$208,272 |
-3.08 |
|
Nevada |
37,655 |
-39.15 |
57.43 |
$135,921 |
18.49 |
|
New Hampshire |
1,138 |
-56.94 |
12.18 |
$172,199 |
28.42 |
|
New Jersey |
11,312 |
-21.36 |
15.18 |
$220,717 |
37.87 |
|
New Mexico |
1,547 |
-0.77 |
8.03 |
$177,520 |
10.43 |
|
New York |
9,454 |
-30.79 |
7.69 |
$281,810 |
23.17 |
|
North Carolina |
10,315 |
-29.06 |
11.69 |
$146,261 |
25.85 |
|
Ohio |
26,594 |
-38.16 |
22.51 |
$79,835 |
42.76 |
|
Oklahoma |
2,967 |
-32.52 |
10.26 |
$96,314 |
32.09 |
|
Oregon |
10,488 |
-9.64 |
28.17 |
$190,335 |
24.60 |
|
Pennsylvania |
11,067 |
-14.40 |
11.28 |
$120,767 |
39.07 |
|
South Carolina |
8,496 |
-10.10 |
18.09 |
$145,307 |
21.45 |
|
Tennessee |
14,656 |
-33.96 |
18.81 |
$96,501 |
39.49 |
|
Texas |
37,316 |
-24.50 |
12.88 |
$142,049 |
27.15 |
|
Utah |
8,067 |
-19.48 |
19.71 |
$213,848 |
0.22 |
|
Virginia |
18,188 |
-30.94 |
24.83 |
$228,564 |
30.39 |
|
Washington |
11,217 |
-31.04 |
14.39 |
$232,314 |
24.53 |
|
Wisconsin |
6,095 |
-31.06 |
13.86 |
$108,610 |
35.36 |
Source: RealtyTrac
Ten states posted average foreclosure discounts of more than 35 percent in 2010: Ohio (43 percent), Kentucky (40 percent), Tennessee (39 percent), California (39 percent), Pennsylvania (39 percent), Illinois (39 percent), New Jersey (38 percent), Michigan (38 percent), Georgia (37 percent) and Wisconsin (35 percent).