According to CoreLogic’s most recent report, the current residential shadow inventory nationwide has dropped 0.2 million units, representing a five-month supply of houses yet to hit the market[1]. A year ago the shadow inventory was estimated at 1.9 million housing units, which was also considered to be a five-month supply. The data firm attributed the decline to “fewer new delinquencies and the high level of distressed sales.”
In addition to the decrease in volume of the shadow market, prices may also finally be stabilizing, announced the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Prices rose 0.8 percent in April over March – the first time in almost a year for them to do so[2]. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), believes that this is a sign of good things to come. He believes that although existing home sales volumes are still low, as factors like “spiking petrol prices and the tornados that struck the southeast…recede, sales should pick up in the second half of this year.”
While all of this seems like good news, many experts are choosing to ignore other issues like stubbornly high unemployment numbers and a backlog of 2.2 million foreclosures that are stalled due to various litigation and general reluctance on the parts of lender to foreclose at this time. Do you think we’re turning a corner in the housing market?
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[1] http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news25609/shadow-inventory-drops-17-million-units-latest-corelogic-study
[2] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c9998e42-9ced-11e0-8678-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1Q6xhtr5Q
