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78 properties accounted for more than 50% of all traffic to individual property pages on Auction. com on March 18—the first time above 50% so far this year. is indicates buyers are shifting to online auctions to acquire distressed properties as inventory at in-person foreclosure auctions dries up—not to mention the added convenience and health benefits buyers get from buying online. "With what we're seeing now with the coronavirus, which will go away at some point, it makes sense to stay at home," said a Portland, Oregon-based buyer who buys online REO auction properties remotely in Albuquerque and Las Vegas. e shift toward remote buying of distressed properties means that REO homes available via online auction are attracting more competitive bids. So far in the first quarter, through the middle of March, 89% of online REO auction properties sold on the Auction. com platform have received bids from multiple, competing bidders, up from the previous quarter and a year ago to the highest level as far back as data is available, Q3 2017. COUNTERCYCLICAL BUYER DEMAND Innovation such as the online auction—not widely used in the retail housing market—is enabling remote buying in the distressed marketplace, and thereby helping to bolster demand even in a season of social distancing. But in addition to technology that enables remote buying—more on that shortly— distressed market demand is also benefiting from the countercyclical propensity of many real estate investors who want to "buy the dip." "I've been preparing for that," said Denver-based investor Bijan Green, who said he purchased 25 properties in 2019 and is gearing up to buy more in 2020, even given the recent market volatility. "Veteran real estate investors who were caught in the last economic downturn are waiting around to see 'When can I buy again?' Some of the guys that have been in the game for 30 or 40 years have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for this particular scenario in the market to buy again." e countercyclical propensity of real estate investors was evident during the Great Recession of 2008. Although buyers at foreclosure auction began pulling back on their purchases before the recession hit, the sales rate at foreclosure auction began skyrocketing in late 2008—even while retail home prices continued to drop by double-digit percentages. By the end of 2009, the national foreclosure auction sales rate reached 20.3%, not far below its 22.2% pre-crash peak in Q3 2004. Meanwhile, national median home prices continued their descent for another two years before bottoming out in the first quarter of 2012. During this uncertain time in the retail real estate market, high-volume investors like Tampa-based Lee Kearney were on a buying spree at the foreclosure auction in anticipation of a market recovery. It's a strategy Kearney plans to employ again in another downturn. "I'm going to go into extreme buying mode when defaults increase and everybody hates real estate," said Kearney, CEO of Spin Companies, a group of real estate investing businesses. "I believe the opportunity is going to be in the areas with high concentrations of FHA By the end of 2009, the national foreclosure auction sales rate reached 20.3%, not far below its 22.2% pre-crash peak in Q3 2004. Meanwhile, national median home prices continued their descent for another two years before bottoming out in the first quarter of 2012.