Black & LoBello

CoreLogic, a California-based research firm has released its inaugural report, a bimonthly study entitlted U.S. Housing and Mortgage Trends which states that we will be seeing “more distress with distressed home sales.”   CoreLogic defines distressed sales as short-sales and REO sales.

The report claims this is primarily due to the impending expiration of the federal First Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit on September 30th.  Now that this incentive has run its course, CoreLogic says the share of distressed sales is expected to rise in the fall.

The peak of distressed sales was seen in early 2009, at 35% of overall sales.  The low was seen in June 2010 with distressed sales making up 24% of the nationwide market.

Unfortunately for us, as of June 2010, Las Vegas leads the nation in distressed sales at a whopping 61% of total sales.  In addition to the negative effects of the post-tax credit environment on overall sales, negative equity will continue to be a major factor slowing the recovery of the housing market, with nearly one in four homeowners being underwater nationwide.