Distressed home sales falling in Sarasota-Manatee region

Distressed home sales in the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla., metropolitan area during the third quarter — either short sales, bank-owned sales or third-party foreclosure auction sales — accounted for 11% of the residential real estate market. In hard figures, that represents 4,740 residential properties.

Nationally, Attom Data Solutions, curator of the nation's largest multisourced property database, reported Wednesday that distressed sales accounted for 12.5% of all home sales in the third quarter, down from 13.5% in the previous quarter and 14.1% in the third quarter of 2016. The latest figure represents the lowest level since 2007's third quarter. The high point came in the first quarter of 2009 when distressed sales hit 43.9% of the market.

Sarasota County presented an anomaly with 13.6% in 2016's third quarter, 10% in 2017's second quarter but 11.1% this past quarter. The hard numbers fell each time, though, from 395 to 365 to 294.

In Manatee County, distressed sales dropped considerably — from 337 homes in the second quarter of 2017 to 226 in the third quarter. That's also down from the 334 in the third quarter of 2016. Market share also fell, from 14.3% a year ago to 10.8% this past quarter.

Sarasota, Fla.

Percentage-wise, Charlotte County yo-yo'd like Sarasota, from 16.3 to 10.1 to 13.1 over the same three quarters. The number of purchased residences dropped sharply from 248 to 143 but then rose a bit to 147.

"Distressed sales nationally are now the exception rather than the rule, and we would expect the distressed sale share to return to the pre-recession norm of single-digit percentages within the next year given the current downward trajectory," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at Attom Data Solutions. "Distressed sales have become more localized in nature, with some of the biggest increases from a year ago in markets experiencing regional economic weakness or a natural disaster event that has triggered a jump in foreclosure activity."

The dwindling supply of distressed properties across Florida accounts for the overall statistical improvement.

In September, the number of properties that received a foreclosure filing in Florida was 29% lower than the previous month and 39 percent lower than the same time last year, RealtyTrac reported recently. Home sales for August 2017 were up 4% compared with the previous month, and down 60% compared with a year ago. The median sales price of a nondistressed home was $190,200. The median sales price of a foreclosure home was $113,200, or 40% lower than nondistressed home sales.

Among 146 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000 and at least 100 distressed sales during the quarter, those with the highest share of distressed sales were Atlantic City, N.J. (35.2%); McAllen-Edinburg, Texas (24.5%); Montgomery, Ala. (23.7%); Akron, Ohio (23.2%); and Youngstown, Ohio (22.5%), Attom found.

The report also shows that all-cash purchases accounted for 25.9% of all single-family home and condo sales in the third quarter of 2016, down from 27.4% in the previous quarter and down from 29.2% a year earlier to the lowest level since 3Q 2007, when all-cash purchases accounted for 24.3% of all home sales. The peak in share of all-cash purchases was the first quarter of 2011 at 44.8%.

Among metropolitan statistical areas with at least 1,000 single-family and condo home sales in quarter three of 2016, those with the highest share of all-cash purchases were Raleigh, N.C. (53.1%), Miami (45.8%), Naples (45.2%), Ocala (44.9%) and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton (43.2%).

Tribune Content Agency
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