Banks Must Unload 12,000 Houses

Nearly 1 in 5 homes for sale in metro Atlanta is being sold by a bank that acquired it via foreclosure. Atlanta has 12,309 bank-owned foreclosed homes for sale in the five-county metro area, out of 71,148 homes for sale, as of Oct. 3 according to RealtyTrac.com, a national foreclosure research company.

Here is a breakdown by county...

Fulton - 4,407
DeKalb - 3,145
Gwinnett - 1,831
Clayton - 1,553
Cobb - 1,373

Because banks must be aggressive sellers, the flood of bank-owned properties onto the market threatens to soften homes prices across metro Atlanta after years of solid growth.

Atlanta Business Chronicle, October 5, 2007