Tag Archives: RealtyTrac

In a positive sign for the housing market, RealtyTrac reported Thursday a decrease nationwide in homes that were classified as “seriously underwater”, down to 9.1 million homes in the second quarter of 2014, representing 17.2 percent of all homes nationwide. The number is a decrease from the 17.4 percent of underwater homes recorded in the first quarter

In an important signpost of recovery, foreclosure activity in the United States has fallen to levels not seen since before the financial crisis began, according to a report issued by RealtyTrac Thursday.

RealtyTrac released a study Thursday for the first time ever profiling what single family homes sell at the deepest discounts and what single family homes sell at the highest premiums.

Zombie properties serve as a lingering reminder of a housing market still in the midst of self-correction. They serve as a legacy of the recent housing crisis, a byproduct of lengthy foreclosure timelines and mercurial state foreclosure statutes. RealtyTrac recently released a nationwide analysis of zombie properties, examining both states and institutions that have the most zombie properties.

RealtyTrac released its first-ever Natural Disaster Housing Risk Report Thursday, which assigns a risk score for a natural disaster to more than 3,000 county housing markets nationwide. Scores were based on risk data for three natural disasters—hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes—and each county was assigned to one of five categories based on their score: Very High Risk, High Risk, Medium Risk, Low Risk, and Very Low Risk.

The unemployment rate was unchanged in May, staying put at 6.3 percent with 9.8 million Americans unemployed. Unemployment is the lowest it has been since September 2008. However, RealtyTrac's Octavio Nuiry makes the case that there is more to unemployment than percentages, and that a hidden actor is depressing housing market growth—and could cause more problems in the future.

Foreclosure filings were reported on roughly 110,000 U.S. properties in May, a 5 percent decrease from April, according to RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, were down 26 percent year-over-year in May to the lowest level since December 2006.

In a blog post, RealtyTrac VP Daren Blomquist analyzed data from the company's newly created and interactive, county-level heat map, which shows the returns on home flipping over the last 12 months in 1,050 counties nationwide. He found that although flipping was down nationally in the first quarter of 2014 compared to a year ago, flippers are making bigger profits per flip.

RealtyTrac announced recently that veteran licensing and business development executive Jeff Mattice has joined the company. Mattice will serve as VP of the Data Solutions team. In his new role, Mattice will help grow the company's expanding data licensing business.

U.S. residential properties sold at an estimated annual pace of 5.2 million in April, according to RealtyTrac's April 2014 Residential & Foreclosure Sales Report. April's sales pace is a decrease of less than 1 percent from March, but an increase of 4 percent from April 2013.