The Federal Housing Administration, which sold more than 102,000 government-owned homes in fiscal 2011, expects to sell that many again in the new fiscal year.
"We're right in the 100,000 target range again this year," Tom Rose of the FHA's Santa Ana, Calif., homeownership center said at the National Association of Realtors' annual convention in Anaheim.
The insurance fund sold a record 102,195 units in fiscal 2011, according to Rose, who is director of real estate owned for the FHA, working out of the agency's California office.
"We've never cracked the six-digit level before, so it was a monumental year for us."
In the process, the agency returned more than $7 billion to the Treasury Department, Rose reported. "We sell a lot of houses," he said.
The process of reselling REO takes 5.5 months on average nationally from acquisition to closing, according to Rose. But he said his shop is currently moving properties "in and out" at a crisp 120 days or less.
