Survey: Younger Buyers More Likely to Consider Buying a Foreclosure

Younger homebuyers are far more open to the idea of buying a foreclosure compared to older buyers, a National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) survey on buyer and seller trends revealed.

Overall, 44 percent of surveyed buyers said they did not consider a home in foreclosure. When broken down by age group, however, only 31 percent of Millennials (32 and younger) said they did not consider purchasing a home in foreclosure compared to 65 percent for buyers aged 67 to 87.

The share of buyers who did not consider a foreclosure increased with age, the NAR found. For example, among Generation X buyers (aged 33 to 47), 43 percent did not consider a foreclosure, while 53 percent of those aged 58 to 66 were in the same category.

For buyers who considered foreclosed homes, 29 percent said they decided not to buy one because they could not find the right home.

Another 16 percent didn’t buy a foreclosure because the home was in poor condition, while 15 percent said the process was too difficult or complex.

The survey also found younger buyers were more optimistic about their purchase compared to older age groups.

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By: Esther Cho, DSNews.com

Foreclosure Inventory Falls 24% from Year Ago

By: Esther Cho, DSNews.com

Foreclosure inventory continued to shrink in April, with the number of homes in some stage of the foreclosure process down 24 percent year-over-year, according to data from CoreLogic.

About 1.1 million homes sat in foreclosure inventory in April compared to 1.5 million properties a year ago, CoreLogic reported. Foreclosure inventory also displayed a month-over-month decrease, falling 2 percent from March to April.

At the same time, the overall share of mortgaged homes in foreclosure inventory declined to 2.8 percent in April from 3.5 percent in March.

The data provider also reported the number of homes lost to foreclosure decreased 16 percent year-over-year in April to 52,000. Compared to March, the number of homes lost to foreclosure remained unchanged.

Prior to the crisis, completed foreclosures averaged 21,000 per month between 2000 and 2006.

“The shadow of foreclosure and distress continues to fade, with the annualized sum of completed foreclosures having declined for 17 straight months,” noted Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a release. “Six states have year-over-year declines in the foreclosure inventory of more than 40 percent, and in Arizona and California the year-over-year decline is more than 50 percent.”

In April, Florida led as the state with the most foreclosure inventory, followed by New Jersey (7.4 percent), New York (5.1 percent), Maine (4.4 percent) and Nevada (4.3 percent).

Florida also ranked highest for completed foreclosures. According to CoreLogic, Florida has seen 102,000 completed foreclosures over a one-year period ending in April. California came in second with 79,000 completed foreclosures, with Michigan (68,000), Texas (53,000), and Georgia (47,000) rounding out the top five.

Since September 2008, an estimated 4.4 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.