DSCN2908 (Photo credit: lane.bailey)
RISMedia just posted a story a few days ago citing stats that 24% of all real estate sales nationwide are foreclosure. That is down slightly from 26% in the 4th quarter of 2010. And a little more striking piece of news was that short sales were up by 15% from a year ago while REO (foreclosure) sales were actually down 12% from a year ago.
As a real estate agent, I look at the stats a little different than others might. To begin with, I would have thought that the number would have been higher. Of course, there are local variations… and I think that in Gwinnett County, there is a significantly higher percentage of sales that are foreclosure related.
Looking at local listings, in many of my market area segments, more than half of the available listings are foreclosure or related (pre-foreclosure and short-sale or institutionally owned). And a higher percentage of the sales would be foreclosure related… often because the prices are more attractive.
But overall, I think that this bodes well for the overall health of the local real estate market. As foreclosed inventory depletes, more normalcy can be established in the market.
Of course, if you are a buyer, that means that you might want to jump in while the prices are still depressed and the mortgage rates are bouncing on the bottom. Feel free to give me a call to take a look. You can see my local market reports here.
Lane
garagehome [at] gmail [dot] com
678-200-5895
Related articles
- 10 Cities Where Homebuyers Can Get Steals On Short Sales (businessinsider.com)
- Foreclosure sales a sign of what’s to come (cbsnews.com)
- RealtyTrac: US Foreclosure Sales 24% Of All Q4 Residntl Sales (forexlive.com)
- Wayback Wednesday… Price ≠ Value (lanebailey.com)
- Metro Atlanta foreclosure notices drop (ajc.com)
