What Are The Recent Trends Witnessed By The U.S Housing Market In The Sale Of Foreclosures?
The U.S housing market has been going through great upheaval in the recent times with the economic meltdown which has given rise to the influx of a large number of foreclosures in the real estate industry. While the increasing number of foreclosed homes has become one of the most unfortunate crises across the whole country, this dismal situation has also given rise to a golden opportunity for middle income families who are coming forward for the first time to invest in real estate as well as switch from rental apartments to buying their own properties.
The current trends in real estate transactions in major U.S States such as Florida, California, Texas and many more are showing an increase in the foreclosures sale as compared to any other properties with maximum number of buyers belonging to average income groups. In the last month, 54% of the properties sold in Florida State comprised of foreclosures which included REO or bank owned properties, fixer upper homes as well as foreclosed houses that were purchased through auction or public sales. Similarly, the state of Texas is also going through a steady increase in the sale of repo homes which have distinctly outnumbered any other real estate transaction in the last quarter of this year.
The nature of properties that are being sold in the housing market is going through a major shift with foreclosures being favored over any other real estate deals. One of the major reasons for this shift is the highly reduced asking prices of these properties that have made them highly affordable for a new group of investors including young professional and first time home buyers who are emerging as one of the most promising real estate customers. Another major factor in the steady incline in the sales of foreclosures is the increase in the supply of these properties which is continuing at an alarming rate. As the country is seeing no respite in the number of homes that are being repossessed, banks and mortgage companies are willingly cutting down the selling prices in order to clean out their inventories and recover their losses to some extent.
Data from various economic and real estate journals point out clearly that the first quarter of this year saw a major increase in the number of foreclosures all over the country which further increased to 35% of the total properties available for sale in the housing industry. The latest statistics being released by news agencies are also recording a steady decline in the selling prices of foreclosures which are at present ranging between 22 – 40% of their original market values.