Many area home sales are foreclosures

MANATEE — Foreclosures are taking a growing share of the Manatee County housing market, but not as large as elsewhere in Florida, according to data released today.

Nearly 27 percent of all Manatee homes sold during the first quarter were foreclosures, RealtyTrac said in a quarterly report. That’s up from 20.4 percent in 2009’s fourth quarter. A year ago, foreclosures made up 26.3 percent of the first quarter of 2009, the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listing service said.

In Sarasota County, foreclosures accounted for 36 percent of all first-quarter 2010 sales. The Florida average was 38.7 percent, the sixth-highest rate nationally. The U.S. rate was 31 percent, led by three states — Arizona, California and Nevada — where foreclosures were more than half of all sales.

The growing proportion of foreclosures and other “distressed” sales in Manatee didn’t surprise Kathy Marlowe, whose Kathy Marlowe & Associates Realty in Sarasota specializes in foreclosures.

“It’s been that way with foreclosures and short sales for a while,” she said Tuesday. “They’re a major part of the market, with non-distressed sales being less typical. We’ve been living in this market since 2006.”

In a short sale, a lender allows a delinquent borrower to sell his home for less than the outstanding mortgage amount instead of foreclosing on it.

“More short sales are happening more often because the banks are trying to streamline the process,” May Aston, a RE/Max Alliance Group agent who specializes in distressed properties.

But it’s price discounts that are moving foreclosures off the market, agents said.

Manatee foreclosures sold for an average of $161,030 in this year’s first quarter, or 21.5 percent below comparable homes, according to RealtyTrac. That discount has steadily grown since the year-ago quarter, when it was 14.6 percent, the company’s data says.

Marlowe said foreclosure prices are falling partly because of the properties’ deteriorated conditions.

“Some of these homes have been sitting for one, two, or three years vacant and no one is taking care of them,” she said, adding that foreclosures in good condition and reasonably priced are selling quickly.

Sales price discounts for Florida foreclosures averaged 38.7 percent and 31 percent for the U.S. as a whole, RealtyTrac said. Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio had the steepest discounts at 39 percent each.

Duane Marsteller, transportation/growth and development reporter, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2630.