PrintPrintNearly a quarter of all home sales nationwide are foreclosure-related, up from 19% a year ago. In South Carolina, the figure is about 15%, with average sales price at $130,173.
By Lauren Ratcliffe
lratcliffe@scbiznews.com
Published Aug. 30, 2012
Foreclosure-related sales as a percentage of overall home sales are on the rise, but the number of properties sold has decreased compared with 2011, according to data released by RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracking firm.
About 23% of all home sales nationwide involved property in some form of foreclosure. In South Carolina, the percentage was nearly 15%.
S.C. homebuyers looking for steep discounts did not see the same deals as the national average. Foreclosed homes in the state sold for an average price of $130,173, or 28.7% lower than a non-foreclosure property.
Prices for foreclosed property rose 7% nationally from the second quarter of 2011.
“The second-quarter sales numbers provide solid statistical evidence of what we’ve been hearing anecdotally from real estate agents, buyers and investors over the past few months: There is a limited supply of available foreclosure inventory to choose from in many markets,” said Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president.
He predicted that the inventory shortage could ease when some of the current incipient foreclosures go onto the market as short sales or bank-owned homes.
“The increase in short sales of properties that have not even started the foreclosure process indicates that lenders are moving further upstream to deal with their distressed inventory, thereby avoiding the increasingly complex and lengthy foreclosure process altogether.”
| . Lowcountry Midlands Upstate South Carolina | Foreclosure 2,222 | % Change -17.3% | % of 14.9% | Average Discount 28.7% |
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