Nearly a quarter of all home sales in the USA in the second quarter of this year involved a property in some stage of foreclosure, according to research from a leading real estate firm.
Article written by The Overseas Guides Company
RealtyTrac, which monitors properties in foreclosure, said 23 per cent of homes sold in the second quarter were either bank-owned or involved in the foreclosure process. In Florida, a favourite of British buyers, this figure was 20 per cent.
While the housing market shows some signs of growth with prices rising, the percentage of home sales that include properties involved in foreclosure has risen from 22 per cent in the first quarter and from 19 per cent in the second quarter of 2011.
That said, the total number of sales involving foreclosures dropped to 224,429 in Q2 2012, down 12 per cent from Q1 and down 22 per cent year-on-year. This overall fall in supply means prices are starting to rise. The average sales price in the second quarter for a foreclosure-related property was $170,040, a six per cent increase from the first quarter and a seven percent climb from the same period a year earlier.
An example of the some of the deals currently available in Florida is this three-bedroom home in Kissimmee, which is on the market today through IRIS International for $69,900 and previously sold for $183,400 in 2005. It comes tenanted, generating monthly rental income $825. After all closing and ongoing monthly costs, annual net income is around $7,524, giving it a return on investment of 10.5 per cent.
“This property is especially appealing as it needs no money spending on it and delivers an attractive rental yield right from day one,” said Richard Way, editor of the Overseas Guides Company. “Sources tell me there are waiting lists of tenants for these sorts of properties, highlighting how Florida has residential buy-to-let investment opportunities as well as a strong holiday rental market.”
For details of property for sale in the USA, visit the American listings on Rightmove Overseas. One way to save money when buying in the USA is to use a currency specialist when transferring your pounds into dollars to complete the purchase of your property. For more information on this, contact Smart Currency Exchange.
To understand the full step-by-step process to buying a property in America, collect The Overseas Guides Company’s ‘USA Property Buying Guide’
The views and comments herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Rightmove Overseas, Rightmove Group Ltd or Rightmove Plc