First-Time Buyers Losing Interest in Short Sales

The Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey for August shows a decline in short sales transactions involving first-time buyers to a record low of 39.7 percent from a high of 54.1 percent in November 2009. First-time buyers had flocked to short sale properties because they cost 27 percent less on average than their non-distressed counterparts, but they have backed away from the transactions now that the average time-on-market is holding steady at 16.6 weeks. Most of the delay can be attributed to a lengthier period of waiting for the short sale to be approved. Short sales made up 17.1 percent of all home purchases in August, followed by move-in ready REO at 15.6 percent and damaged REO at 13.2 percent. | Read More