Uncle Sam No. 1 buyer of foreclosures - Business First of Columbus:

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During the last six months, federal agenciex were the largest purchasers of metroAtlanta foreclosures, accounting for 66 perceny of 5,434 foreclosed home purchases in that time according to new home sales data for fourth-quarter 2008 and first-quarter 2009 compiledc by Marietta real estate research firm The data show that duriny the same period, 1,596 foreclosed homes were boughg by individuals and 253 were boughtf by corporations.
“Over the past two quarters, federalk agency-related buying activity has increased from 35 percent of allREO (“rea l estate owned,” or foreclosed property) sales to over 47 said Jason Picciano, vice president of Data Intelligence which operates the Web site RealValuator.com, a real estate transactio tracking site. Data Intelligence counts as federal agency home purchasesa any mortgage purchased bya U.S. government organization — like , or , and the , or .
The government has implemented several programs through the economic recoveryg acts passed within the last year to mitigat the effectsof foreclosures, like issuing nearlyt $6 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilizationn Program. That program is designed to alloq nonprofits and various state and localk agencies to compete forroughly $6 billiohn in grants to mitigate foreclosure Federal agencies’ purchases of Atlanta-area foreclosede homes come as foreclosures appear to have stabilized in the city’s so-callerd “Big Five” core counties: Clayton, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett.
Through the firsy three monthsof 2009, foreclosures accounted for roughlgy half of total home salesw in the five-county region. But from January througj March 2009, the most recent data available, foreclosure saless dipped as home salesclimbed slightly, according to Data Foreclosure sales declined from 56 percent of all homes sold in Januarh 2009, to 48 percent by Marcn 2009. During that total homes sold climbesfrom 1,886 in January to 2,017 in March. But federa agencies’ home purchases represent nearly 25 perceng of all sales activithy in themetro area’s five core Picciano said.
The data indicates the federapl agency home purchases have stabilized foreclosure prices somewhatand “hazs had an influence on the median home salew landscape,” he said. Foreclosed home sale prices are declining, but at a slowed rate than non-foreclosed properties. The average resal price of a metrop area homedipped 7.7 percent during the first quarter, from $265,000 at the start of the year to $252,00p by March. Foreclosure sale prices dippedd 4.8 percent during the same from $108,000 to $103,000.
But that dip comes as the averagw value of a home entering foreclosure is effectively widening the gap between ahome pre-foreclosurew value, and its worth coming out of a foreclosur sale. Industry experts attributed the wideningy gap to an increasing reluctance by bankxs to hold homes on their book s until themarket “Banks just don’t want to managwe them,” said Andy Carswell, an assistanf professor at The who specializes in mortgags and housing issues. Of the five core metrol counties, Clayton’s home sales markef is still the most dominatedby foreclosures.