The National Association of REALTORS has put together a video discussing the amount and type of ‘Shadow Inventory’ nationally. The biggest problem with such figures is that they are still based off of sampling & definitions of what is or is not counted in the definition. Regardless of what the actual number is, the video discusses how banks are putting more focus on short sales than they have in the past – which I believe to be a much better option than letting these properties go through the entire foreclosure process.
Also of note is the reiteration that banks are not going to just dump huge amounts of new inventory on the market – they understand that this is not in their interest and to be honest, they can’t process this stuff fast enough to dump a huge number of new foreclosures on the market – the foreclosure process is a long one and each can take a little different timeline so by their very nature they are likely to come on in a staggerd fashion.
I still do not subscribe to the idea that there will be some huge “wave” of foreclosures coming, but rather that we will continue to see the high levels of activity that we have seen since 2008.
