Foreclosure properties sold during 2012 decreased by 6% from 2011 and down 11% from 2010, RealtyTrac said in its fourth quarter and year-end 2012 foreclosure and short sales report.

Based in Irvine, Calif., RealtyTrac is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties.

“Although foreclosure-related sales represent a shrinking share of total sales, primarily because of fewer bank-owned purchases, distressed sales are still a disproportionately high portion of the overall housing market,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. 

Pre-foreclosure sales increased 6% from 2011, returning just 1% below the 2010 total of pre-foreclosure sales. Since RealtyTrac began tracking in 2005, 2010 held the highest annual total. Pre-foreclosure homes took an average of 336 days to sell after starting the foreclosure process, and properties sold for an average price of $190,031.

Even though REO sales fell in the nationwide total, numbers still increased in 26 states. 498,122 REOs were sold to third parties, which is down 15% from 2011 and down 19% from 2011. REOs sold for an average of $151,998 and took and average of 178 days to sell.

Short sales are sales where the price was below the estimated amount of all outstanding loans for a given property. On average in 2012, non-foreclosure short sales were on average $81,621 short of the loan amount owed. As the year progressed in 2012, short sales increased. Short sales increased 2% from the third quarter of 2012 and increased 17% from the fourth quarter of 2011. Short sales of properties not in foreclosure were estimated to account for 22% of all residential sales in 2012.