Foreclosure update: down but not out

What we mostly hear about these days are reports such as this Home prices surpass July 2006 peak from the National Association of Realtors.
We don’t hear as much about distressed sales – foreclosures and short sales – so I have looked at the trend since the beginning of 2014 in Essex County and Massachusetts as a whole, and then looked at the pattern since the foreclosure crisis really started in 2009.
The message from these numbers, which relate to Single Family Homes, is that while distressed sales have dropped sharply in the last 2-3 years, they still account for more than 1 in 20 of all sales in both Essex County and Massachusetts overall.

Essex County
Distressed sales peaked at 16% of all sales in 2011 and dropped to 5% in 2014.

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Massachusetts
The pattern is very similar for the State as a whole, peaking at 17% of all sales in 2011 before dropping to 7% in 2014.

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Comment
In 2014, 2,955 Single Family Homes were lost to foreclosure or a short sale. That is 2,955 too many and shows that many families are still losing the fight for the American Dream.

If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected].

Read Which broker should sell my house?

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated

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