Distressed residential home sales, which consist of REO properties and short sales, dropped by 2 percentage points year-over-year in October 2015 despite an expected seasonal monthly increase of zero point 2 percentage points from September to October, according to data released by CoreLogic. September’s distressed sales share of 10 point 2 percent is less than one-third what it was at its peak of 32 point 4 percent reached in January 2009.
Within the distressed category, sales of REO properties accounted for 6 point 9 percent of all residential sales, while short sales accounted for 3 point 3 percent of all home sales in October 2015. REO sales declined by 1 point 6 percentage points from the previous October, representing the lowest share for the month since October 2007. In all, 41 states experienced year-over-year declines in their distressed sales share in October 2015.
Home prices continued their upward trend in October 2015. Black Knight Financial Services' Data and Analytics division released its October 2015 Home Price Index report, finding that U.S. home prices rose marginally by zero point 2 percent from September to October. However, despite the relatively small month-over-month increase, home prices are up 5 point 5 percent year-over-year. The HPI reached 254 thousand dollars in October and is now just 5 point 3 percent off its June 2006 peak of 268 thousand dollars.