Foreclosed homes weighing down Michigan real estate market

Foreclosed homes continued to drag down Michigan home sale prices in the first quarter of the year.  Realty Trac reports nearly 32% of  homes sold in Michigan in the first three months of 2011 were repossessed homes.   

The average price for a foreclosed home was just a little more than $70 thousand.   The price is about a third less than similar homes on the market.  

A Realty Trac spokesman says that’s keeping home prices from appreciating.   Michigan is among a dozen states where foreclosed homes accounted for at least 25% of the homes sold during the first quarter of the year. 

Realty Trac spokesman Daren Bloomquist says the effect of foreclosed properties on home prices varies from city to city in Michigan, depending on how many repossessed homes are on the market.