This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 30, 2012 - Foreclosures continued to account for about one-quarter of all U.S. residences sold during the first quarter of 2012, reports a company that tracks foreclosure statistics.
According to RealtyTrac, 233,299 homes sold during the first three months of the year were either bank-owned or in some stage of foreclosure (default or scheduled for auction) -- about 26 percent of all home sales during the time period. The total of distressed property sales was 8 percent higher than in the last quarter of 2011. The average sale price of foreclosed homes was $161,214, about 27 percent lower than the average sales price of non-foreclosures. This discount was about the same as the previous quarter.
The statistics showed a continued trend of pre-foreclosure sales -- usually short sales, in which banks agree to accept prices that are less than homeowners owe on their mortgages. Short sales increased by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2011.
The numbers indicated that lenders are approving more aggressively priced short sales and that results in more successful short-sale transactions, said Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac, in the report released today.
Missouri saw 3,104 sales of foreclosed residences in the first quarter of 2012, representing about 23 percent of all home sales. The average price of a foreclosure was $83,293, according to RealtyTrac.
Illinois had 8,592 sales of foreclosure properties, about 30 percent of all sales. The average price for a foreclosed home in Illinois was $127,530.
