Almost one out of every three U.S. home sales in the first quarter was a foreclosure property as sheer price discounts increased demand for upset real estate, RealtyTrac said in a new report on Wednesday.

Foreclosure homes were responsible for 31% of all housing sales in the first quarter of 2010, with the standard sales price of properties that sold whilst in a few stage of foreclosure almost 27% lower than homes that were not in the procedure, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said.

In a standard market, a mere 1 to 2% of home sales are foreclosures, so this is surely a momentous stage, Rick Sharga, Senior Vice President at RealtyTrac, said in a meeting.

Total U.S. foreclosure sales in 2009 went up by more than 1,100% from 2006 and more than 2,500% from 2005. Foreclosure sales were responsible for 29% of all sales in 2009, which is up from 23% in the year 2008 and a mere 6% in 2007, the real estate data company said.

The standard sales prices on properties in a number of stages of foreclosure decreased 23% from 2006-09, whereas the usual discounts on foreclosure buys augmented from 21% in 2006 to 27% in the first quarter of 2010.