Report: Ohio offers biggest foreclosure discounts

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined in the first three months of the year, but they still accounted for 28 percent of all home sales.

That's a share nearly six times higher than what it would be in a healthy housing market.

Foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac says foreclosure sales made up 25 percent of all Ohio home sales during the first three months of the year, and the state offered the biggest foreclosure discounts. The average sale price of an Ohio foreclosure property was about $75,400, which was 41 percent less than the average price for other types of homes.

The pace at which homes are entering the foreclosure process has slowed in recent months amid bank and court delays. But distressed properties remain a fixture of a housing market still searching for a sustained recovery.