Sales of NYC bank-owned homes speed up

Lenders are unloading bank-owned homes at an even faster clip than they were during the lead up to the real estate boom, according to data provided to The Real Deal by listings provider PropertyShark.

Banks and financial services firms such as Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo and HSBC sold homes in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx in an average of 260 days in 2011, compared with 290 days in 2005 — a 10.3 percent difference, the most recent data show.

The rate is, of course, much faster than it was during the peak of the foreclosure crisis in 2008, when it took banks an average of 463 days to sell a repossessed home, or 43.8 percent longer than in 2011, the figures showed.

In addition, the annual number of homes repossessed by lenders has fallen dramatically since the peak. So far this year there has been only 16 in the four boroughs — or fewer than 50 on an annualized basis — compared to 1,562 in 2008.

“Very few [homes] are going back to the banks,” Nancy Jorisch, a senior data analyst with PropertyShark said. “Not only are fewer properties being repossessed by the banks, but the ones that are being repossessed are being [sold] at a quicker rate.”

The foreclosure crisis hit the outer boroughs far harder than Manhattan, and continues, although at a slower pace.

Banks repossessed just over 5,000 homes since 2005, with the vast majority in Queens, followed by Brooklyn, the Bronx and then Manhattan. As of Monday, there were 452 bank-owned properties, Jorisch said, citing company data.

PropertyShark surveyed homes in New York City excluding Staten Island between 2005 and 2013. However, the rate of sales was only through 2011.