Distressed properties, including short sales and REOs, accounted for 29 percent of all home sales in the United States in January, according to new data released Thursday by First American CoreLogic.

The company says it’s the highest level of distressed transactions since April 2009, and not too far off from the peak in January 2009 when distressed sales accounted for 32 percent of all sales transactions.

After declining through most of 2009, the rebound in distressed sa...