Sales of distressed homes hit the lowest levels in nearly a decade in October, a sign the housing market continues to gradually improve, according to a new report.
The sales represented 7.7 percent of all homes sold in October, the lowest share since October 2007, which was on the cusp of the housing crisis, CoreLogic reported on Wednesday.
{mosads}At its peak in January 2009, distressed sales totaled 32.4 percent of all sales with bank-owned housing sales representing 27.9 percent of that share.
The pre-crisis share of distressed sales usually runs about 2 percent. If everything stays on track, the market is expected to reach that level again in mid-2018.
All but eight states recorded lower distressed sales shares in October compared with a year earlier.
Maryland had the largest share of distressed sales of any state at 18.6 percent, followed by Connecticut (18.3 percent), Michigan (17 percent), New Jersey (15.8 percent) and Illinois (14.7 percent).
North Dakota had the smallest distressed sales share at 2.7 percent.
Cash sales accounted for 31.8 percent of total home sales in October, down 2.7 percentage points from the previous year.
The cash sales share peaked in January 2011 when they represented 46.6 percent of total home sales.
Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share averaged about 25 percent and could reach that point again by mid-2018.
The housing market is making strides in other areas.
In a separate report on Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors said that sales of previously owned homes posted their best performance in a decade last year.
Even though rising mortgage rates and low inventory levels stunted sales in December, the year was the best since 2006.