Distressed sales of single-family homes and condos fell to 16.2% of all sales in 2016 – down from 18.8% of all sales in 2015 to reach the lowest level since 2007, according to a recent report from ATTOM Data Solutions.
Distressed sales include bank-owned sales, short sales or foreclosure auctions sold to third-party buyers.
Metro areas with the highest shares of total distressed sales during 2016 included Atlantic City, N.J. (43.8%); Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Md.-W.V. (33.2%); Rockford, Ill. (29.2%); Montgomery, Ala. (29.2%); and Baltimore (28.0%).
Bank-owned (REO) sales accounted for 8.0% of all sales – down from 10.0% in 2015 to the lowest level since 2006.
Short sales accounted for 5.5% of all home sales in 2016 – down from 6.0% in 2015 to the reach the lowest level since 2008.
Foreclosure auction sales (trustee’s sales or sheriff’s sales) selling to third-party investors (not including those going back to the foreclosing lender) accounted for 2.8% of all home sales – down from 2.9% in 2015 to reach the lowest level since 2007.
“The housing market hit several important milestones in 2016, with distressed sales at a nine-year low and home prices at a 10-year high, just barely below the pre-recession peak in 2006,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions, in a statement. “This was all good news for home sellers, who realized their biggest average profits since purchase nationwide in 2016. Even distressed property sellers are benefiting from this hot seller’s market, with a record-high share of homes at foreclosure auction being purchased by third-party buyers rather than reverting back to the foreclosing bank.”
The share of foreclosure auctions sold to third-party buyers hit a record high of 28.5% in 2016. That’s up from 23.5% in 2015 to reach the highest level since 2000 – the earliest for which ATTOM has data available.
A total of 96,438 single-family homes and condos were sold to third-party buyers at foreclosure auctions in 2016.
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