2012 Foreclosure Sales at Lowest Level in Five Years

Last year had the fewest foreclosure-related home sales since 2007, but levels remain high when compared to the years before the financial crisis. In 2012, nearly 950,000 properties in some stage of the foreclosure process or bank-owned were sold, according to RealtyTrac. While the level was 6 percent lower than the year before, there were just 46,000 foreclosure-related property sales in 2005. Foreclosure-related sales accounted for 21 percent of all residential sales in the U.S. in 2012, compared to just 1 percent in 2005. Foreclosure-related sale prices increased nearly 2 percent last year to reach an average of about $167,000.