IRVINE, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 28, 2014) - RealtyTrac ® ( www.realtytrac.com ), the nation's leading source for comprehensive housing data, today released its September and Q3 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that U.S. residential properties, including single family homes, condominiums and townhomes, sold at an estimated annual pace of 4,402,741 in September, a decrease of 1 percent from August 2014 and a decrease of 19 percent from a year ago.
The median sales price of U.S. residential properties -- including both distressed and non-distressed sales -- was $195,000 in September, up less than 1 percent from August and up 15 percent from September 2013. September was the 30 th consecutive month where U.S. median home prices increased on an annual basis, and the 15 percent annual increase is the biggest annual percentage increase since October 2005.
"Median home prices nationally in September were boosted by a new low in the share of distressed sales during the third quarter, resulting in fewer home sales on the lower end," said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. "The share of homes selling above $200,000 is up 7 percent from a year ago, and the share of homes selling above $500,000 is up 15 percent from a year ago.
"Some of the biggest increases in median prices are in markets in the Midwest, Southeast and Inland California, where home prices are still considered a relative bargain for both investors and owner-occupant buyers," Blomquist added. "Meanwhile, many of the fastest-appreciating real estate markets last year have now settled into a more sustainable pattern of single-digit appreciation."
Markets back to single-digit appreciation, markets with biggest annual appreciation Median home prices increased less than 10 percent from a year ago in 59 of the 102 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 500,000 or more tracked in the report. Major metros with single-digit appreciation included Los Angeles (9 percent increase), where annual home price appreciation has been in single digits for four consecutive months; Phoenix (6 percent increase), where annual home price appreciation has been in single digits for six consecutive months; San Diego (7 percent increase), where annual home price appreciation has been in single digits for four consecutive months; Denver (6 percent increase), where annual home price appreciation has been in single digits for nine consecutive months; and Portland (7 percent increase), where annual home price appreciation has been in single digits for five consecutive months.
"We are experiencing the normal seasonal slowdown, but the market is still very strong in Northern Colorado," said Doug Dodds with RE/MAX Alliance , covering the Denver, Colo. market. "Our feeling is that prices will not deflate but rather level off at least until spring."
Markets with the biggest annual increases in median home prices in September included Detroit (35 percent increase), Austin, Texas (28 percent increase), Cincinnati (27 percent increase), Cleveland (25 percent increase), Stockton, Calif., (21 percent increase), Miami (18 percent increase), and Charlotte (15 percent increase).
Short sales and bank-owned sales at lowest level since first quarter of 2011 Short sales and distressed sales -- in foreclosure or bank-owned -- accounted for 12.7 percent of all sales in the third quarter, down from 14.2 percent in the previous quarter and down from 14.5 percent in the third quarter of 2013 to the lowest level since RealtyTrac began tracking short sales and distressed sales combined in the first quarter of 2011. Metro areas with the highest share of combined short sales and distressed sales were Las Vegas (34.9 percent), Stockton, Calif., (31.8 percent), Modesto, Calif., (31.2 percent), Lakeland, Fla., (26.1 percent), and Jacksonville, Fla., (26.1 percent).
Short sales nationwide accounted for 3.8 percent of all sales in the third quarter, down from 4.2 percent of all sales in the second quarter and down from 4.7 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2013 to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2011. Metros with a high percentage of short sales in the third quarter included Las Vegas (10.5 percent), Lakeland, Fla., (10.4 percent), Cape Coral FL (10.4 percent), Orlando (10 percent), Tampa (9.7 percent), Miami (9.2 percent), Palm Bay (9 percent), Jacksonville (8.4 percent) and Sarasota (8.2 percent).
Sales of bank-owned properties nationwide accounted for 7.8 percent of all sales in the third quarter, down from 8.8 percent of all sales in the previous quarter and down from 9.0 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2013 to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2011. Metro areas with the highest percentage of bank-owned sales in the third quarter were Stockton, Calif., (26.1 percent), Modesto, Calif., (25.2 percent), Las Vegas (23.2 percent), Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., (19.7 percent), Bakersfield, Calif., (18.5 percent), Phoenix (18.5 percent) and Sacramento (16.2 percent).
Sales at the public foreclosure auction accounted for 1.1 percent of all sales nationwide in the third quarter, down from 1.2 percent in the previous quarter but up from 0.9 percent in the third quarter of 2013. Metro areas with the highest percentage of auction sales in the first quarter were Lakeland, Fla., (4.9 percent), Miami (3.9 percent), Orlando (3.7 percent), Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla., (3.5 percent) and Tampa (3.4 percent).
| Qtr-Yr | Short Sales | REO Sales | Foreclosure Auction Sales | Total Short Sale & Foreclosure Sale | ||||
| Q1 2011 | 9.96% | 8.38% | 0.8% | 19.13% | ||||
| Q2 2011 | 8.50% | 9.61% | 0.7% | 18.80% | ||||
| Q3 2011 | 8.89% | 9.33% | 0.6% | 18.78% | ||||
| Q4 2011 | 9.70% | 9.48% | 0.3% | 19.48% | ||||
| Q1 2012 | 9.79% | 9.03% | 0.5% | 19.27% | ||||
| Q2 2012 | 8.18% | 9.22% | 0.3% | 17.69% | ||||
| Q3 2012 | 6.79% | 8.97% | 0.5% | 16.25% | ||||
| Q4 2012 | 6.86% | 9.55% | 0.8% | 17.18% | ||||
| Q1 2013 | 6.84% | 11.08% | 1.0% | 18.88% | ||||
| Q2 2013 | 5.44% | 9.86% | 0.8% | 16.15% | ||||
| Q3 2013 | 4.65% | 8.98% | 0.9% | 14.48% | ||||
| Q4 2013 | 4.87% | 9.14% | 0.8% | 14.84% | ||||
| Q1 2014 | 5.51% | 10.08% | 1.3% | 16.87% | ||||
| Q2 2014 | 4.24% | 8.80% | 1.2% | 14.23% | ||||
| Q3 2014 | 3.77% | 7.84% | 1.1% | 12.69% | ||||
Distressed properties sold 37 percent below non-distressed properties in September The median sales price of a distressed residential property -- in foreclosure or bank-owned when sold -- was $130,000 nationwide in September, 37 percent below the median non-distressed sales price of $205,000.
Major markets with the biggest percentage difference between distressed and non-distressed median prices were Pittsburgh (72 percent), Milwaukee (67 percent), Cleveland (64 percent), and Memphis (59 percent).
"Even as the share of distressed sales decreases, the average discount on distressed properties continues to be substantial because the primary factors driving that discount are still in place," said Blomquist. "Distressed properties are typically in poor condition and have a highly motivated seller -- whether that seller is the distressed homeowner in foreclosure or the bank that has repossessed the property through foreclosure."
Report methodology The RealtyTrac U.S. Residential Sales Report provides counts and median prices for sales of residential properties nationwide, by state and metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 500,000 or more. Data is also available at the county level upon request. The report also provides a breakdown of cash sales, institutional investor sales, short sales, bank-owned sales and foreclosure auction sales to third parties. The data is derived from recorded sales deeds and loan data, which is used to determine cash sales and short sales. Sales counts for recent months are projected based on seasonality and expected number of sales records for those months that are not yet available from public record sources but will be in the future given historical patterns. Statistics for previous months are revised when each new monthly report is issued as more deed data becomes available for those previous months.
Definitions Residential property sales : sales of single family homes, condominiums/townhomes, and co-ops, not including multi-family properties.
Annualized sales : an annualized estimate of the number of residential property sales based on the actual number of sales deeds received for the month, accounting for expected sales records for that month that will be received in future months as well as seasonality.
Distressed sales: sale of a residential property that is actively in the foreclosure process or bank-owned when the sale is recorded.
Distressed discount: percentage difference between the median distressed sales price and the median non-distressed sales price in a given geographic area.
Bank-Owned sales: sales of residential properties that have been foreclosed on and are owned by the foreclosing lender (bank).
Short sales : sales of residential properties where the sale price is below the combined total of outstanding mortgages secured by the property.
Foreclosure Auction sales: sale of a property at the public foreclosure auction to a third party buyer that is not the foreclosing lender.
Report License The RealtyTrac U.S. Residential & Foreclosure Sales report is the result of a proprietary evaluation of information compiled by RealtyTrac; the report and any of the information in whole or in part can only be quoted, copied, published, re-published, distributed and/or re-distributed or used in any manner if the user specifically references RealtyTrac as the source for said report and/or any of the information set forth within the report.
Data Licensing and Custom Report Order Investors, businesses and government institutions can contact RealtyTrac to license bulk foreclosure and neighborhood data or purchase customized reports. For more information contact our Data Licensing Department at 800.462.5193 or datasales@realtytrac.com .
About RealtyTrac RealtyTrac is a leading supplier of U.S. real estate data, with nationwide parcel-level records for more than 129 million U.S. parcels that include property characteristics, tax assessor data, sales and mortgage deed records, Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) and 20 million active and historical default, foreclosure auction and bank-owned properties. RealtyTrac's housing data and foreclosure reports are relied on by the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury Department, HUD, numerous state housing and banking departments, investment funds as well as millions of real estate professionals and consumers, to help evaluate housing trends and make informed decisions about real estate.
