Foreclosures Sell at 26%

More foreclosure news from CNNMoney.com this morning. Georgia, not mentioned in the article, has a 41% foreclosure savings and has the 7th-highest number of foreclosures nationally, with about 1 in every 246 households receiving a foreclosure filing in August, 2010.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Homes lost to foreclosure now make up a quarter of the real estate market -- and they're selling at big bargains.

Nearly 250,000 residential properties in some stage of foreclosure changed hands during the second quarter, RealtyTrac reported Thursday, September 30. They sold for about 26% less than non-foreclosed homes, compared to 35% less in the first quarter.

A little more than half of these deals were of properties repossessed by banks, the remainder came from the ranks of short sales -- where banks allow homeowners to sell for less than they owe on the mortgage.

There was much regional variation in the foreclosure sales data. Rust Belt states such as Ohio and Michigan had moderately or high levels of foreclosure sales, but the former bubble states is where foreclosures continue to dominate.

In Nevada, they accounted for 56% of all transactions, the highest percentage in the nation. Arizona (47%) and California (43%) also had very high levels.

Foreclosure sales were much rarer in Iowa (4.4%), the District of Columbia (5.6%), Montana (6.4%) and New York (7.5%).

The sharpest foreclosure deals were to be found in Ohio, where foreclosure properties sold for 43% less than non-foreclosed homes. Kentucky's discount was 41%, and California's 39%.

Original Article: http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/30/real_estate/foreclosure_sales_grow/index.htm

Blogger Matthew Allan is a specialist in Savannah Real Estate, focusing on Savannah's downtown historic districts, including the Landmark Historic District, Victorian Historic District, Thomas Square Historic District, Starland Historic District, Baldwin Park, and Ardsley Park Historic District.