What was true of real estate sales in January of this year is even truer in the shortest month of the year. February saw little change in the marketplace. 1658 total homes sold this month bringing the sales slghtly higher than January’s 1628. The huge majority of these sales were distress sales. 74.6% were foreclosure sales (1237), 10.6% were short sales (175) and the rest 14.8% were non-distressed. That’s a small minority of about 15% overall sales.

Year over year, foreclosures sales are not going down: 106% higher than last February. Short sales gained the most; they are 143% higher than they were last year and non-distressed sales fell by 26% year over year. Overall, total unit volume is 65% higher than it was last February.

That coupled with low inventory is the good news part of this post. Last month inventory was at 4 months and 3.7 months. This year, it’s even lower at 3.7 and 3.6 months depending on whether you are considering the last 12 months or 6 months respectively.

Foreclosure inventory is down further to 1.1 and 1 months.

But that’s all for the good news. In terms of prices, they’ve slipped once again, albeit not as far as last month. Average sold price per square foot is now at $113.57 almost the same as last month’s $114.86. This is however a 30% year over year from $162.17. Average sales price is now $180,757 – slightly lower than last month’s $182,761, but again 34% lower than last year’s $274,177. Median price is at $155,000 down from $160,000 last month and 38% lower than last year’s $249,950.

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