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Why are banks buying their own foreclosures at real estate auctions?

I've been to a few New York Real Estate auctions at courthouses recently and often the banks are buying the properties back, They either have a specified bid they come in with or will outbid the public. I don't understand. Don't these banks want these properties off the books?

Public Comments

1. The banks must know something that RE investors don't - maybe the houses are worth more than is being offered at the Auctions? Obviously they aren't spending any money on the houses, so they're actually not "buying" as in creating new paper, but basically repossessing these properties. Maybe the more a bank has in bad assets, the more they can borrow from Federal Reserve?
2. I think it is a way to have a reserve without officially having a reserve. They will say no reserve auction to draw crowds and then put their bid at the minumum they would take for the property. This way, they get the crowds and dont let the house go at a price they think is too low. This usually works because the average buyer wont know that it is the bank bidding on it. As for outbidding the public, they are counting on the public thinking its a great deal because of the competition, its a way of drumming up bids that would not be there. Probably not that ethical, but most likely legal
3. Banks are buying the properties back at the amount owed on them. If the bid got higher than the amount owed, the bank wouldn't bid.
4. The reasons why banks buy the properties back at auction is because they think they can do better selling them on their own. They have to go through the foreclosure process to regain ownership legally.