Report: Connecticut has second-highest level of distressed home sales

Connecticut had the second-highest percentage of distressed home sales ”“ those undertaken in an urgent manner, often at a loss ”“ in the nation in March.

According to property information and analytics firm CoreLogic, 18.9 percent of Connecticut homes were distressed sales in March ”“ a figure that is a slight improvement over February”™s 19.1 percent.

The state with the largest distressed sales share during the month was Maryland at 19.8 percent, followed by Connecticut and Michigan (18.1 percent). The state with the smallest distressed sales share for March was North Dakota (2.4 percent).

On a national basis, distressed sales totaled 9.9 percent, a decrease of 1.7 percent from February and down 2.7 percent from March 2015. That 9.9 percent figure is less than a third of what it was at its peak in January 2009, when distressed sales accounted for 32.4 percent of all residential home sales.

According to the company”™s Senior Economist Molly Boesel, “There will always be some level of distress in the housing market, and by comparison the pre-crisis share of distressed sales was traditionally about 2 percent. If the current year-over-year decrease in the distressed sales share continues, it will reach that ”˜normal”™ 2-percent mark in mid-2018.”