Third-quarter local foreclosed property sales surged from the preceding period, according to a company that compiles foreclosure statistics.
Sales of repossessed properties in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area jumped by 91 percent from July 1 to Sept. 30, compared to the prior three-month span, according to RealtyTrac, a Los Angeles-area real estate company that tracks foreclosure activity nationwide.
Statewide, foreclosure sales increased 27 percent from the second quarter, RealtyTrac reported.
On an annual basis, local foreclosure sales decreased 3 percent from the same 2011 period and sales statewide increased 1 percent, the data show.
New foreclosure filings in the region have been decreasing since 2011, but the quarterly sales increase indicates plenty of repossessed homes continue to surface in the market. Third-quarter regional sales of foreclosed properties totaled 103, up from 54 in the earlier period, according to RealtyTrac.
"The foreclosure overhang is huge and there is no end in sight," said Forrest Huffman, Ph.D., a Temple University professor of real estate and finance.
The jump may reflect delays by banks to sell repossessed properties to avoid flooding the market and depreciating housing prices further, said Joe Donato, a broker at Vision Realty, a Clarks Summit agency that sells foreclosed properties.
"I have been getting a lot of older homes that have been idle for two or three years," Mr. Donato said, "Banks hold onto them. Maybe they are afraid to plug the market too much."
The targets of foreclosures have changed since the beginning of a severe recession in 2008 that was rooted in subprime mortgages, said Jesse Ergott, executive director of NeighborWorks Northeastern Pennsylvania, a nonprofit budget counseling agency based in Scranton.
"We are seeing a steady stream of people through job loss, unemployment and underemployment," Mr. Ergott said. "It's really transitioned primarily into economic hardship. That's been the name of the game for many of the folks we are seeing."
Pennsylvania is among states requiring judicial approval for foreclosures, which results in more delays in the system, Dr. Huffman said.
"The foreclosure process itself tends to make the transition longer," he said. "Sometimes, there are problems with foreclosures extending years out into a settlement."
Regional foreclosed-home offerings, though, are drawing interest from investors and buyers who do their own rehabilitation work, Mr. Donato said.
"The market is pretty active," he said. "The prices are attractive."
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com