Foreclosure Sales in the DC Area Down Significantly in 2012

• July 2, 2012

by Shilpi Paul

It looks like the number of foreclosures in the DC area could indeed be dropping.

In a recent blog post from RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI), RBI’s Corey Hart takes a look at the state of distressed property sales, both foreclosures and short-sales, in the metro area for the first six months of 2012.

Courtesy of RBI

While distressed sales are down, comprising 27.3 percent of all sales in the area for the first half of 2012, compared to 36.6 percent over the same period last year, foreclosure sales are way down, accounting for 13.6 percent of sales during that period versus 23.7 percent last year. Short sales, on the other hand, are up slightly, to 13.7 percent from 12.9 percent.

Perhaps the most interesting takeaway from the report are that the sales of foreclosures are not just lower across the area than they were last year, but have fallen in each of the 45 counties analyzed, an indication that the number of properties in foreclosure proceedings is also falling. For a full run down, click here.

A common explanation for the falling foreclosure rate over the last 12 months (not just in DC, but across the country) is that banks have slowed their processing of this property type, and a large volume of shadow inventory is still waiting in the wings to hit the market. However, according to a few sources, shadow inventory numbers area dropping all over the country, too.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/foreclosures_in_the_dc_area_down_significantly_in_2012/5724