San Diego auction: 67 cents on the dollar

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Good stuff from the bottom of a Wall Street Journal article about the crisis at Countrywide: At an auction of foreclosed homes in San Diego over the weekend, the average price paid was 67% of the previous price paid for the home. ‘At a similar auction in San Diego in May, the average was 73%,’ The Journal reports.

That’s a big haircut for lenders. We’ve written before that auctions are one of the best ways to measure the value of a given home. How much is that house that’s been on the market for three months and isn’t selling really worth? Auction it off and you will have a ballpark answer. We understand it’s not a perfect valuation model, and probably not the best selling strategy, but it gives a real market value to a home.

Hat tip: CD, KNX-AM radio