Distressed sales in Charlotte area on decline

Listen to this article

The Charlotte area has seen a large drop in distressed-property sales, according to real estate analytics firm CoreLogic. The share of all homes that were bought in short sales or reverted to lender ownership following foreclosure dropped to 7.8 percent of all home purchases in July. That’s down from 10.9 percent a year earlier.

According to CoreLogic, REO sales made up 3.8 percent of the total, while short sales amounted to 4 percent. A year ago, those figures were at 5.7 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.

Local figures are lower than the national average. Across the country, distressed sales constituted 9.4 percent of total sales, down from 11.5 percent in July 2014. At its peak in January 2009, distressed sales made up 32.4 percent of all home purchases.

In July 2015, REOs accounted for 6.1 percent of all home sales, while short sales made up 3.4 percent. The REO sales share was at its lowest since September 2007, when it was 5.2 percent, CoreLogic reports.

A short sale is defined as a real estate sale in which the lender and borrower agree to sell the property for less than the amount due on the loan. It’s a way for the borrower to avoid a default on his credit report, while the lender avoids foreclosure fees. REO sales occur when the property reverts back to the lender, usually a bank or government agency, after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction.

Florida had the largest share of distressed sales of any state at 20.7 percent in July 2015, followed by Maryland at 20.6 percent; Michigan at 20.2 percent; Connecticut at 19.1 percent; and Illinois at 18.9 percent. Nevada had a 6.4 percentage point drop in its distressed-sales share from a year earlier, the largest decline of any state.

North Carolina saw a drop in the share of distressed sales to 8.8 percent from 10.4 percent in July 2014.

California had the largest improvement of any state from its peak distressed-sales share, falling 58.6 percentage points from its January 2009 peak of 67.4 percent.

CoreLogic, based in Irvine, California, provides property information, analytics and data services.