Short sales and sales of foreclosed REOs totaled just under 1 million homes in 2011. Foreclosure-related transactions made up 23% of all residential sales in the U.S. last year, with short sales accounting for 9%lender owned properties accounting for 14% of all 2011 U.S. home sales.
During the last quarter of 2011, a total of just over 88,000 homes were in default or scheduled for auction. Short sales sold for an average of $184,221 in the fourth quarter of 2011. The average sales price of a short sale in the fourth quarter was 21 percent below the average sales price of a non-foreclosure home. That being said only 25% or 1 in 4 of all short sale transactions actually closed. Short sales that sold in the fourth quarter of 2011 took an average of 308 days to sell.
There was over 115,000 lender owned homes that sold in the fourth quarter of 2011 in the US. Lender owned home sales increased 20 percent or more on a year-over-year and sold for an average of $149,686 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Lender owned homes that sold in the fourth quarter took an average of 175 days to sell after completing the foreclosure process. Sales of foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2011 continued to be slowed by questions surrounding proper foreclosure paperwork and procedures. Even so, bank owned homes accounted for nearly 1 in every 4 sales during 2011. Recent forecasts suggest an increase in short sales and bank owned properties in 2012 as lenders start to aggressively dispose of distressed assets.
A slow shift toward short sales took place in 2011 as they increased 15 percent from a year ago while lender owned homes sales decreased just slightly. That trend will likely show up in more in 2012 as lenders recognize short sales as a better option for many of their non-performing loans. Yet with a 1 in 4 success rate Realtors may question how many of their clients they wish to put through the short sale process.
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