BOSTON–DebtX, the firm here hired by the NCUA to sell off $26 million of bad loans for houses located in Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres in southwest Florida will conduct an online auction Dec. 13 to unload some of the debt.

Deep discounts will likely be taken, as investors willing to buy depreciating value will demand rock bottom prices to hold on to the home sites for resale when the market rebounds, which is not predicted to happen for several years. The average value of the houses was $360,000 when the loans were made by Huron River Area CU in Ann Arbor, Mich., and the current average balance of the loans is $261,000. The Florida Association of Realtors estimates that home values in Lee County, Fla., have dropped 26% since the construction boom ended in early 2006.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Huron River Area Credit Union, since liquidated by the NCUA, racked up the debt making construction loans to build low-end houses in the real estate boom that ended in early 2006. The average loan balance on the 100 houses is $261,000 and the average value of the houses was $360,000 when the loan was made.