MHP Foreclosure Monitor: How 2nd wave may impact economic recovery

In-depth look at data shows size of shadow inventory, possible trouble spots

By Tim H. Davis, Feb. 28, 2010

Despite reports that the real estate market is rebounding, local and national real estate watchers worry that bank-owned homes and homes on the brink of foreclosure will flood the market, slowing the recovery. Mortgage researcher First American CoreLogic estimates that this so-called “shadow inventory” has risen nationally to 1.7 million as of September, 2009, up from 1.1 million the year before.

This month’s Foreclosure Monitor attempts to estimate the potential impact on Massachusetts by analyzing properties that comprise this shadow inventory:

· Delinquencies: the owner is late on the mortgage, but not in foreclosure

· Petitions: one has been filed but the foreclosure has not been resolved

· Bank-owned: A real-estate owned property (REO) that’s not on the market.

For more details at MHP’s website, please click the above link.