Foreclosures account for 28% of real estate sales in Q1

Average foreclosure discount is nearly 27%

 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.

	Q1 2011 Total Foreclosure Sales
State	# of FC Sales	% ch. from Q1 ’10	Pct. of all sales	Avg. price	Avg. discount %
U.S. Total	158,434	-35.79	27.53	$168,321	26.66
Alabama	834	-14.81	20.06	$135,063	20.46
Alaska	134	-27.96	10.9	$230,840	13.83
Arizona	14,274	-20.66	45.19	$128,289	25.34
Arkansas	624	-26.07	17.21	$112,519	25.2
California	44,018	-28.62	45.23	$247,623	33.9
Colorado	4,032	-20.83	29.96	$176,291	29.52
Delaware	246	-12.14	18.54	$158,077	36.18
Florida	25,052	-31.6	32.49	$116,583	27.28
Georgia	3,889	-59.2	27.23	$117,050	32.38
Hawaii	362	-24.58	13.69	$322,317	17.82
Idaho	1,604	-8.19	32.88	$141,845	15.44
Illinois	5,529	-37.72	29.38	$132,983	40.9
Indiana	1,640	-58.35	20.64	$105,914	23.97
Iowa	377	-26.37	6.83	$97,339	29.03
Kentucky	589	-45.51	15.97	$100,126	39.02
Louisiana	497	-37.17	11.85	$116,201	35.86
Maryland	2,443	-37.23	23	$186,712	38.81
Michigan	7,164	-41.1	31.94	$70,358	33.96
Minnesota	1,179	-56.45	15.7	$152,179	19.26
Missouri	2,326	-29.32	20.21	$117,831	16.99
Montana	156	-17.46	10.17	$209,843	-4.97
Nevada	8,322	-23.28	53.32	$128,589	17.5
New Hampshire	101	-81.7	11.07	$156,292	31.09
New Jersey	1,861	-47.56	15.6	$227,288	34.21
New Mexico	210	-53.54	7.19	$192,941	6.98
New York	1,211	-60.81	6.74	$288,138	31.98
North Carolina	1,745	-47.85	11.6	$144,553	25.57
Ohio	4,495	-42.78	24.59	$75,397	41.14
Oklahoma	653	-29.33	13.57	$93,013	35.96
Oregon	2,133	-26.85	31.71	$175,957	24.37
Pennsylvania	2,282	-27.42	13.79	$113,884	36
South Carolina	1,347	-43	19.17	$144,492	23.98
Tennessee	2,331	-51.34	19.02	$100,967	38.14
Texas	6,962	-39.93	12.05	$144,505	25.24
Utah	797	-69.75	15.48	$218,425	-1.59
Virginia	3,216	-37.22	30.2	$202,070	33.8
Washington	2,122	-43.77	16.03	$205,824	27.02
Wisconsin	1,044	-47.27	18.54	$104,760	38.03

Source: RealtyTrac