Distressed Home Sales at Three-Year Low

Irvine, CA, March 1, 2012 -- Bank-owned homes and short sales in 2011 accounted for the smallest proportion of overall sales since 2008, according to tracking firm RealtyTrac.

However, they still made up nearly a quarter of all U.S. homes sold last year.

RealtyTrac said that 907,138 sales were made last year of foreclosed-upon homes and others that were in some stage of the foreclosure process. They represented about 23 percent of all home sales in 2011.

Sales of bank-owned properties and other homes on the foreclosure track still made up a much larger share of total sales compared 2005, when sales of previously occupied homes peaked and foreclosure sales comprised less than 1 percent of all sales, RealtyTrac said.

The sales peaked in 2009 at about 1.1 million and made up about 37 percent of all sales.

At the end of January, there were 645,000 bank-owned homes in the U.S. that had yet to be sold, representing a 17-month supply at the current sales pace.

In addition, another 710,000 homes were in some stage of the foreclosure process.