Buyers and investors are encouraged to explore Arizona listings as they plan to search and buy foreclosures by state, as Arizona has still plenty of lower-priced foreclosure homes.
Although foreclosure activity has slowed down in the state in April, the total number of pre foreclosures and repossessed homes in April was still relatively high. Among the ten most foreclosure-hit states, Arizona posted the sixth highest number of postings during the month, which was a total of 16,088 filings.
Of these total postings, 5,452 homes were already in bank owned foreclosures listings, comprising 34 percent of total filings in the state in April. It also accounted for 5.9 percent of total REO homes nationwide during the month.
According to foreclosure analysts, while foreclosure filings declined in many states in the first months of this year, the number and percentage of REO units has been rising. They said that this reflect the efforts of lenders to complete their initial filings that were delayed due to the loan modification program and moratorium programs.
The surge in REO homes also showed that the Home Affordable Modification Program was not able to help distressed homeowners at the expected level. Even residential mortgages backed by government agencies had difficulties getting modification.
As the percentage of FHA loans continued to soar since 2008, the pace of growth of listing of HUD homes also surged. As of the last months of 2009, FHA loans accounted for nearly one-third of all mortgage loans in the country. As banks tightened their lending requirements and rejected a lot of applications for their conventional home loans, borrowers turned to FHA loans.
Most often, people that search and buy foreclosures by state turn to Arizona listings as they discover that Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa and other Arizona cities offer plenty of buying opportunities.
For instance, house sales from Tucson foreclosure listings again surged in April, according to the Tucson Association of Realtor. A total of 1,227 homes were sold during the month, marking a jump of 31 percent over the year and an increase of 5 percent from March. Pending sales increased over the year by 17 percent to 1,568 homes, also marking a 1.2-percent jump from March.
Although the average home price increased to $199,986 by 4.4 percent from the $191,530 average in April last year, the price level is still a profitable level for investors. Another real estate firm reported that foreclosure homes are priced on the average at $143,000 while existing homes are sold at an average price of $199,000. New homes are listed at an average of $230,565.
In the higher-cost areas, such as Northwest Tucson and Catalina Foothills, the average prices in April were $253,901 and $388,570, respectively. While Northwest Tucson posted a price increase, Catalina Foothills experienced a price decrease.
For those trying to search and buy foreclosures by state in order to find listings of lower-priced homes, they are encouraged to look at Tucson listings. As of April, there were 6,603 active listings in Tucson, as reported by the local realtor association.
John Cutts has been educated in the finer points of the foreclosure market over 5 years.
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