Foreclosures are ticking up and the area housing market is still saturated with bank-owned properties, despite an apparent budding recovery from the throes of the housing crisis.
Locally, sales and prices for both new and existing homes were up in the first quarter compared to a year ago, according to a report released last month by Metropolitan Regional Information Statistics and Delta Associates.
But more than one in five home sales were bank-owned properties in April, data from Clear Capital Markets showed.
The percentage of sales from foreclosures ticked up to 21.7 percent from 20.7 percent in March — still lower than the national rate of about 30 percent, and significantly lower than the area’s peak of 39 percent early last year.
But the normal rate is around 4 or 5 percent, according to Alex Villacorta, senior statistician with Clear Capital.
“We’re still in a fragile state,” he said.
Further, area foreclosures are creeping upward. The rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 2.35 percent in March, up from 1.90 percent a year ago. The national rate was 3.23 percent. And 8.3 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared to 5.69 percent for the same period last year, according to data from CoreLogic.
But some experts remain bullish, noting that the market is still on the upswing.
“I still think there has been pent-up demand over the past couple of years,” said David Dowies, principal broker for Portfolio Realty in Chantilly.
Contracts and sales triggered by the extended and expanded homebuyers’ tax credit — which expired April 30 — should be wrapping up around this time, Villacorta said.
“Those sales are really going to push us into the May and June months,” he said.
Andy Bauer, regional economist for the Baltimore branch of the Richmond Federal Reserve, said that low mortgage rates, which are poised to rise in the coming years, could generate momentum for people to buy homes now, rather than wait.
“It’s a good time to buy a home,” he said.
