by Calculated Risk on 12/10/2012 03:55:00 PM

Economist Tom Lawler sent me the following preliminary table today of short sales and foreclosures for a few selected cities in November.

There will be more cities added soon.

For all of these cities, the percentage of foreclosures is down from a year ago.   The percentage of short sales is up in Las Vegas and Reno, but down in Phoenix and in the mid-Atlantic area.

Look at the overall percent of distressed sales (combined foreclosures and short sales).  There is a large year-over-year decline in distressed sales in all of these cities. 

I think the two key numbers for real estate markets are 1) inventory, and 2) the percent of conventional sales (non-distressed sales).  Inventory is falling, and the percent of conventional sales is increasing - and those are positive signs.

	Short Sales Share		Foreclosure Sales Share		Total "Distressed" Share
	12-Nov	11-Nov	12-Nov	11-Nov	12-Nov	11-Nov
Las Vegas	41.2%	26.8%	10.7%	46.0%	51.9%	72.8%
Reno	40.0%	32.0%	12.0%	38.0%	52.0%	70.0%
Phoenix	23.2%	29.8%	12.9%	29.8%	36.1%	59.6%
Mid-Atlantic (MRIS)	11.9%	13.7%	8.7%	14.2%	20.6%	27.9%