Sales of distressed houses drop

Distressed home sales nationwide are at their lowest point in seven years, with the Inland Empire showing considerable improvement in that area.

Real estate-owned and short sales accounted for 13.5 percent of all home sales in February, the lowest they’ve been since February 2008, according to data released Tuesday by CoreLogic in Irvine.

Breaking down the category, real estate-owned sales made up 9.7 percent of all home sales during the second month of this year, while short sales made up 3.8 percent.

At their peak, in January 2009, distressed sales accounted for 32.4 percent of all home sales in the United States, CoreLogic stated.

Of the 25 metropolitan areas included in the survey, the Inland region showed the most improvement. Its distressed sale percentage peaked in February 2009, at 76.3 percent. By February of this year that number had dropped to 13.2 percent, according to CoreLogic.

Real estate-owned sales are sales of properties owned by banks or other financial institutions. A short sale occurs when a homeowner sells a house that is “underwater,” meaning the home is worth less than what is owed on the mortgage.

A short sale is usually undertaken to avoid foreclosure.

CoreLogic provides financial, property and consumer information to its estimated 40,000 clients, according to the company’s website.