Josh Salman | Herald Tribune |
“Lenders completed fewer foreclosures nationwide in May, but the rate of defaults continue to top recent years and the amount of distressed residences remains dangerously high, a new report shows.
Mortgage bankers repossessed 52,000 delinquent U.S. homes in May, a 3.5 percent increase from April but down 27 percent from the same time a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by CoreLogic Inc.
Meanwhile, another 2 million distressed properties, known as shadow foreclosures — delinquent homes that have yet to go into a court system — are looming.
Those shadow foreclosures could add another 5.3 months’ worth of supply to a housing market now hungry for new listings. But analysts also warn those foreclosures also could drag prices down and clip the brisk construction recovery.
Florida is believed to have more shadow inventory than any other state, and most industry observers contend that the Sarasota and Bradenton areas will have to grapple with the issue in coming years.
Complicating the issue, however, is that it has been difficult to determine just how much shadow inventory exists, even regionally.”