Home prices between February and May this year also declined by close to 9 percent, when compared to the previous three months, which was one of the largest drops among all major metropolitan regions. While five other metro regions' prices fell, Detroit's declined the most at 13 percent. Only a few areas experienced increases, which included Washington, D.C.
Clear Capital's director of research and analytics, Alex Villacorta, pointed to the region's high amount of bank-owned sales as one of the major reasons Baltimore was on the "lowest performing major markets" list. Even though the number of real-estate-owned homes declined, it is still at record levels, as more than 25 percent of all homes were REO properties during February through May.
"We are now reaching a new high in terms of this saturation rate for the Baltimore metro area," Villacorta said. "Correspondingly, we are seeing prices hit a new low in the Baltimore area, effectively since the downturn began. One of the biggest drops has been over the most recent rolling quarter, which corresponds with the sharp uptick [in] the sale of distressed homes."
On a national basis, REO sales had represented over 40 percent of all property transactions at the beginning of 2009, however, that figure has leveled off at close to 33 percent since.
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