With the potential for a new ripple of foreclosures and short sales in markets across the country, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) announced the availability of the first in a new series of data reports focused on “distressed” home sales, including short sale, foreclosure and real-estate owned (REO) properties within the Mid-Atlantic region. The goal of the report is to educate both real estate professionals and consumers on meaningful trends in the MRIS market and, also, to establish a baseline for future measurements.
The Mid-Year Distressed Properties Report is a six-month look at median sale prices, new contracts versus pending contracts on the market and the region-specific shift between short sales and foreclosure sales. It also documents the accelerated progression of the Mid-Atlantic housing market recovery.
“Both macro and micro-economic factors impact housing markets around the country resulting in demonstrated shifts relating to what is called the “shadow” inventory. And in local neighborhoods throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, it becomes difficult to ascertain a separation between so-called distressed and traditional sales inside the shadow,” said John L. Heithaus, CMO at MRIS. “While the evidence supports a recovery in conventional sales, the increase in short sales, particularly as you begin to examine the success rates for settling these contracts, is clearly having an impact on local markets.”
According to the data, 44 out of 45 jurisdictions examined experienced a drop in the share of sales of distressed properties from YTD June 2011 to YTD June 2012. Within the distressed market, short sales are becoming more prevalent than foreclosures. Over half (23 of 45) the jurisdictions saw a higher share of short sale transactions compared to this time last year. Conversely, 44 of 45 jurisdictions experienced a drop in the share of foreclosure sales.
“By focusing on the state of the pending short sale market our goal was to also examine the fall-out rates on both short sales and foreclosure sales in the Mid-Atlantic region,” says Jonathan Hill, president of RBI. “The finding that only one if five eligible short sale contracts move out of pending status, coupled with the fact that nearly half of those that do are failing, is just one key indicator of the industry impact from the emergence of distressed inventory. We believe this could be a harbinger of developing trends in the market and want to make certain real estate professionals and their customers are well informed.”
For more information, visit www.MRIS.com.
Download the full Mid-Year Distressed Properties Report here.
