Distressed Property Stats

Last week the RMLS released quarterly stats regarding distressed property sales.  Distressed properties are either short sales or bank-owned homes and have a negative impact on home values.  Here's a quick summary of the numbers:

• In the second quarter of 2012, the number of new listings that were non-distressed properties increased from 71.2% to 81.2%. 
• The percentage of short sales dropped from 15.0% to 9.9%, while bank owned listings dropped from 13.9% to 8.9%. 
• Non-distressed property sales as a percentage of all transactions also increased from 61.1% to 69.9%. 
• The overall number of new listings and sales also increased.  There were 14,565 new listings from January to the end of March compared with 17,817 new listings from April through June.  Closed transaction increased from 7,621 to 10,540.

If this trend continues it will have a positive impact on home values in the Portland and Vancouver markets.  Many buyers view bank-owned houses as the best value on the market, and competition for the new listings has risen, increasing the number of multiple offer situations.  Buyers looking for a bargain should be receiving updated bank-owned listings daily or they risk missing out on an opportunity.  If you'd like to receive a daily updates with new bank-owned homes, send me an e-mail at johnblom@hasson.com.

Source RMLS Blog: www.rmlsbenefits.com