Bookmark this page
Want to buy a home for half the price? Move to Milwaukee.
No? How about Philadelphia or Boston?
Bank-owned homes in these three metro areas sold with an average discount of more than 50 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. That's compared to the price of nonforeclosure homes that sold during that period, according to RealtyTrac.
10 metro areas with the biggest discounts on bank-owned homes
| Metro area | Average foreclosure sales price |
Average discount |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. | $77,592 | 57.90 percent |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. | $109,878 | 52.51 percent |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. | $181,149 | 50.92 percent |
| Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. | $118,278 | 49.71 percent |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga. | $95,321 | 48.12 percent |
| Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa. | $88,393 | 46.36 percent |
| Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio-Ky.-Ind. | $81,065 | 42.43 percent |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash. | $193,993 | 40.27 percent |
| Nashville/Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn. | $124,384 | 38.71 percent |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. | $139,642 | 31.01 percent |
Even if you are not willing to move to one of these areas, you still have plenty of options to snag a foreclosure bargain.
On average, 1 in every 4 homes sold in the fourth quarter was in foreclosure or bank-owned, according to the RealtyTrac report. The homes sold for an average discount of about 35 percent during that period. And that's not about to change anytime soon.
"We expect to see foreclosure-related sales increase in 2012, particularly pre-foreclosure sales, as lenders start to more aggressively dispose of distressed assets held up by the mortgage servicing gridlock over the past 18 months, says RealtyTrac's chief executive officer, Brandon Moore.
If you are thinking about buying a foreclosure, you must read these 5 tips on how to get a good deal on a foreclosure.
Follow me on Twitter@Polyanad
