The depressed housing market is still being felt all over the US.  Many unfortunate homeowners who bought their homes from 2005-2007 did nothing wrong, but still find themselves with their equity/down payment wiped out and owing more money than they’ll be able to get by selling the home.

Others have suffered  harrowing personal circumstances that resulted in losing their home as it was returned to the lender.

Some try to do a short sale on their house, where they sell their house on the market to a willing buyer and attempt to negotiate with the lender(s) to accept less than they’re owed.

AP writer Derek Kravitz wrote an article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 25 that offered the stark percentages in our current market.  Keep in mind that he includes short sales in with foreclosures:

“Foreclosures made up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring.    While that’s a smaller share of sales from the previous quarter, it’s six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market.

Foreclosure sales, which include homes purchased after they received a notice of default or that were repossessed by lenders, accounted for 31 percent of the market in the April-June quarter, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

The share of the market would likely have been larger this spring if not for a state and federal investigation into faulty paperwork by banks and servicers.  The probe has led many banks to delay foreclosure sales.  Once that is complete, foreclosures will likely surge later this year.

As a slice of all home purchases, foreclosure sales peaked two years ago at 37.4 percent.  In the second quarter, they declined from 36 percent in the January-March period.

In all, 265,087 homes in some stage of foreclosure or owned by banks were sold in the second quarter, down 11 percent from the same period a year ago.  Sales of all other types of homes also declined, according to RealtyTrac’s figures, which differ from other home-sales estimates.

Bank-owned homes, which are sold after being repossessed, accounted for nearly 19 percent of all sales.   That’s unchanged from the previous quarter.

Distressed properties, often in need of repair, typically sell at big discounts and weaken prices for neighboring homes.

A bank-owned home this spring sold for 40 less than the average price of other homes, according to RealtyTrac.   That’s up from 36 percent in the previous quarter and 34 percent from the same quarter one year ago.

Sales of homes in the foreclosure process or short sales went for 21 percent less than the average home sold, the firm said.   That’s up from an average of 17 percent in the first quarter and 14 percent in the second quarter of 2010.   A short sale is when the lender(s) agree to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage.

The average sales price of a foreclosure property was $164,217, down less than 1 percent from the January-March quarter and nearly 5 percent from the April-June quarter in 2010, the firm said.

Nevada led all states with foreclosure sales, accounting for 65 percent of all home sales, RealtyTrac said.

In Arizona, foreclosure sales represented 57 percent of all home sales for the quarter, up 16 percent from a year ago.  In California, foreclosure sales accounted for 51 percent of all home sales in the second quarter, virtually unchanged from last year.

Several other states had foreclosure sales that accounted for at least one third of all home sales in the first quarter:  Michigan, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Oregon.”