March Survey: Almost half of housing market is now distressed properties

04-25-2011 • CalculatedRiskBlog.com

The HousingPulse Distressed Property Index (DPI), a key indicator of the health of the U.S. housing market, rose to 48.6 percent in March – the second highest level seen in the past 12 months. ... The HousingPulse DTI indicated that nearly half of the housing marketis now distressed properties. This trend is likely to continue as a backlog of foreclosures and mortgage defaults make their way through the housing pipeline. ... Survey respondents reported mixed opinions on traffic for the winter and spring housing market. “January, February and March sales were characterized by a wait and see attitude of buyers. ... [S]hort sales boomed in the month of March and the proportion of damaged REO fell. Short sales rose from 17.0% in February to a record-high 19.6% in March. Damaged REO fell from 14.9% in February to 12.0% in March.