The number of sales of bank-owned U.S. homes remained high in the second quarter, while sales of homes in default or scheduled for auction rose compared to the previous quarter, a RealtyTrac report said on Thursday.
Overall sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks totaled 265,087, up 6.5% from a revised 248,959 in the first quarter. First-quarter sales were originally reported as 158,434.
The glut of unsold homes is one of the biggest challenges for the housing market that is still struggling to recover from its collapse in 2007.
Overall sales were down 11.1% from the second quarter the year before when the pending expiration of a homebuyer tax credit pushed up purchases.
Sales of homes in the pre-foreclosure stage -- in default or scheduled for auction -- rose to 102,407, up 19% from the previous quarter, but were still down 12.4% from a year before.
Sharga called the quarter-over-quarter rise in such purchases "the first good news we've seen in this part of the housing market in quite some time.
Sales of bank-owned homes stood at 162,680, edging down from 162,900 in the first quarter and down 10.2% from a year ago.
Total distressed sales accounted for 31.3% of all residential sales, down from 35.5% in the previous quarter, but up from 24.4% in the second quarter 2010. Pre-foreclosure sales accounted for 12.1% of all sales, while bank-owned sales made up 19.2%.
The average sales price on distressed homes was $164,217 U.S., dipping from $165,272 U.S. in the first quarter and down nearly 5% from a year ago. Prices were about 32% below the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure.
Nevada had the highest percentage of distressed sales, which accounted for 65.4% of all sales in the state. Foreclosure-related sales in hard-hit Arizona and California accounted for 56.6% and 51.3% of the total, respectively.
