As the federal government has doggedly worked through concerns about foreclosure documentation practices, federal financial agencies have aggressively resumed their sale of foreclosed properties.

Through the first half of the year, the FDIC has sold $1.073 billion in foreclosed properties. This compares to $974.7 million in the first half of last year and $482.2 million in the first half of 2009.

More importantly, the amount of commercial real estate being sold by the FDIC has jumped more than 12 times in that time frame. Just $39.8 million of FDIC property sales in 2009 consisted of commercial and multifamily properties. This year, more than half of the sales ($540.3 million) have been commercial real estate.

In addition, land sales have increased from $86.1 million in 2009 to $310.6 million this year. Also, as commercial sales have been increasing, the number of single-family residential sales being handled by the FDIC is falling from $307.7 million in 2009 to $219 million this year.

While there has been some anxiety in the marketplace over the potential impact that a surge of distressed CRE properties coming into the marketplace may do to sales values, CoStar Group senior real estate strategist Chris Macke says there is an upside to the trend.

“The increased disposition activity is good for the industry,” Macke said. “The sooner we clear troubled assets the sooner the market will return to normal.”

Read more of the CoStar article here.