Weekly Real Estate News
Completed foreclosure auctions during the first quarter were up by 33% from one year earlier and up by approximately 10% from the same period two years earlier, according to data from Auction.com. The first quarter’s activity was at a six-year high as distressed supply continued normalizing to pre-pandemic levels.
Real Estate Owned (REO) auction volume during the first quarter was up by 26% from one year before and up by 6% from two years earlier; it also reached 49% of its first quarter 2020 level.
Foreclosure auction buyers were willing to pay 67.6% of estimated retail market value in the first quarter while REO auction buyers were willing to pay 67.3%. Average equity for scheduled foreclosure auctions declined to 26.9% of value, down 6% quarter-over-quarter and down 13% year-over-year.
Market-level demand remained uneven nationwide, with 26 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), or 27%, recording higher foreclosure sales rates than one year ago, while 70 MSAs, or 72%, saw sales rates decline. Among the highest-volume MSAs with improving sales rates, New York, Houston, Phoenix, St. Louis and Cleveland posted year-over-year gains ranging from roughly 2% to 7%. Among the highest-volume MSAs with declining sales rates, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Detroit recorded year-over-year declines ranging from roughly 3% to more than 30%.
