Percentage of Home Sales from Foreclosures Falls

Irvine, CA, Aug. 25, 2011 -- Approximately one-third of all home sales this spring were foreclosures, according to tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Although that's a smaller percentage than the previous quarter, it's six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market.

State and federal investigations into foreclosure practices have delayed the process for many homes.

Foreclosure sales peaked two years ago at 37.4 percent. In the second quarter, they declined from 36 percent in the January-March period.

In all, 265,087 homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks were sold in the second quarter, down 11 percent from the same period a year ago.

The average sales price of a foreclosure property was $164,217, down less than 1 percent from the January-March quarter and nearly 5 percent from the April-June quarter in 2010, the firm said.