Forty percent of home sales in King County “distressed sales”

Forty percent of home sales in King County are now “distressed sales,” according to a report from Washington Property Solutions.

That means the home sales are short sales, where homes are sold for less than is still owed on the mortgage, or they are bank-owned properties.

Washington Property Solutions reports short sales typically sell for five to ten percent less than conventional sales, and bank-owned properties can sell at an even more significant discount.

The percentage of condominiums sold in distressed sales is even greater. The report says over fifty percent of condominium sales in King County were sold in a distressed state. That’s a greater percentage than the 36 percent of single family homes sold as distressed properties.

According to the report, the greatest concentration of distressed home sales in King County were in areas south of Seattle, in Renton, Burien, Kent, Auburn and Federal Way.

Richard Easton, with Washington Property Solutions, says the situation is even worse for Pierce and Snohomish Counties, where distressed homes make up over 50 percent of the sales.

“When you’re out showing a property as a real estate agent, over half of the properties that you’re showing are going to be in some sort of distressed situation,” says Easton.

In Snohomish County, 51 percent of home sales so far this year have been distressed. In Pierce County, 54 percent of sales were distressed properties.

Just two years ago, distressed homes made up only 26 percent of sales in King County, while the year-to-date total percentage for distressed sales in the area now are at 40 percent.