Foreclosures and short sales are making up less of a share of the for-sale market. According to the National Association of REALTORS®’ February report, distressed home sales accounted for 16 percent of the month’s sales, down from 25 percent in February 2013. 
Also, a new report from RealtyTrac confirms the downward trend.
“Supply and demand have reached a bit of a standoff in this uneven real estate recovery,” says RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist. “The supply of distressed properties, which buyers and investors have come to rely on over the past few years, is evaporating quickly in most markets. But that dwindling supply is not being adequately replenished by non-distressed home owners listing their homes or by new homes being built. Meanwhile, a key source of demand over the past two years — institutional investors purchasing single family homes as rentals — is starting to decline, and it’s not yet clear if that diminishing demand will be filled by first-time home buyers and move-up buyers.”
Still, foreclosures and short sales remain elevated in some markets, according to RealtyTrac’s February 2014 Residential and Foreclosure Sales Report. The following metro areas had the highest percentage of short sales in February, according to the report:
- Las Vegas: 17%
- Orlando, Fla.: 16.8%
- Tampa, Fla.: 14.9%
- Memphis, Tenn.: 14.5%
- Miami: 12.3%
These metro areas had the highest percentage of bank-owned sales in February, according to the RealtyTrac report:
- Cleveland: 29.8%
- Stockton, Calif.: 25.5%
- Las Vegas: 25.4%
- Detroit: 23%
- Jacksonville, Fla.: 21.1%
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Source: RealtyTrac
