Where the Biggest Foreclosure Discounts Are

Foreclosures in the third quarter sold, on average, for about a 34 percent discount compared to the average sales price of homes not in foreclosure, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.

But in some metro areas discounts can be even larger between foreclosures and other home sales.

Here are the metro areas that offered some of the largest discounts in foreclosure sales in the third quarter of 2011:

Trenton-Ewing, N.J.: The average price of a foreclosure sale here was $108,302 — which is nearly 68 percent below the average sales price of a home not in foreclosure. In the third quarter, foreclosures accounted for 8 percent of all sales in the metro area.
St. Louis: Foreclosures sold for an average price of $80,545 — nearly 55 percent below the average sales price of a home not in foreclosure. Foreclosure accounted for nearly 13 percent of all home sales in the St. Louis metro area.
Milwaukee: The average foreclosure sold for $93,250, about 53 percent below the average sales price of a home not in foreclosure. Foreclosure sales accounted for 17 percent of all sales in the area.
Other metro areas posting large foreclosure discounts: Springfield, Mass. (52 percent); Saginaw, Mich. (52 percent); New Haven-Milford, Conn. (51 percent); Memphis (51 percent); San Francisco (51 percent); Toledo, Ohio (50 percent); Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. (50 percent); and Atlanta (50 percent).

Source: “Foreclosures Account for 20% of Residential Sales in Q3,” RISMedia (Jan. 25, 2012)