Tag Archives: REO

Sales of distressed residential properties (REOs and short sales) continued heading toward their "normal" levels with another substantial year-over-year decline in July 2015, according to distressed sales data released by CoreLogic on Thursday.

Though more than a quarter of REO sales were cash transactions in June, REO sales made up only about 6 percent of total home sales during the month. During the peak month of January 2011 for cash sales, REO properties made up about 23.8 percent of all home sales.

Members of the Five Star Institute's Federation of Certified REO Experts (FORCE) gathered from all over the country last week for the FORCE rally at the 2015 Five Star Conference and Expo in Dallas for a day of exclusive academics and networking opportunities.

At the REO Lab at the 2015 Five Star Conference and Expo on Friday in Dallas, industry experts discussed how to get ahead and stay informed and equipped to take on the new REO marketplace.

REO sales are down by 80 percent from their peak six years ago, but there are still plenty of affordable buying opportunities for homebuyers, according to a commentary by Chris Bowden, Freddie Mac's SVP of HomeSteps, the GSE's real estate sales unit.

REO sales accounted for 6 percent of total home sales in June, which was the lowest level since September 2007 when they made up 5.2 percent of all home sales in the country. REO sales hit their peak in January 2009, when they accounted for 27.9 percent of all home sales. According to CoreLogic, the continued shift away from REO sales is driving home price appreciation, since REO properties typically sell at a larger discount than short sales do.

May 2015's cash sales share of nearly 32 percent was down by 31 percent from the peak of 46.5 percent recorded in January 2011. CoreLogic estimates that if the cash sales share continues to decline at the same rate as it did in May 2015, the cash sales share should fall back down to its pre-crisis level of 25 percent by the middle of 2017.

March's distressed sales share was the lowest percentage for any March since 2007. According to CoreLogic, distressed sales usually experience a month-over-month decline in March due to seasonality; this past March, the distressed sales share fell by 1.9 percentage points from February. According to CoreLogic, 8.4 of home sales were REO (real estate-owned) transactions in March 2015, while 3.7 percent were short sales, totaling 12.1 percent.

In CoreLogic's May 2015 MarketPulse released earlier this week, Boesel examined the question of whether or not REO share was headed back toward "a more normal level." Its most recently measured rate of 10 percent is far below the share at the worst of the crisis, which was 28 percent. In some metros, the REO share got as high as 70 percent at the worst of the crisis.

The REO cash sales share percentage of 59.8 for February still has not completely recovered from what was termed a seasonal decline from November, when fell from 61.1 percent to 58.4 percent, though it did move back up to 60 percent for January.