The ratio of bank sales has declined to 25% of all sales last month from 39% of all sales during the same period last year. There are currently 94 bank owned homes, 227 properties in foreclosure, and 190 properties with mortgages 60+ days late but that are not in foreclosure. In the MLS, there are 13 bank owned listings of unsold properties which suggests that 86% of all bank owned homes are not being actively marketed. In my opinion, these statistics indicate that future declines from bank owned homes are possible and this supports that banks may be maintaining properties off of the market, presumably to influence market stabilization, and any property value changes evident from statistics may not be credible as they may not reflect natural market forces.
Brian Ward
