The nation’s shadow inventory of distressed properties is down substantially from peak levels reached in January 2010, Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic said Tuesday.
From its peak three years ago, the nation’s shadow inventory has fallen 28%, with 2.2 million units left sitting in the pipeline during the month of January.
That figure is down 18% from year ago levels when 2.6 million housing units still remained in the pipeline.
CoreLogic (CLGX) develops its shadow inventory figure by calculating the number of seriously delinquent homes, properties in foreclosure and homes held as REOs by mortgage servicers, but not yet listed on multiple listing services.
“The shadow inventory continued to drop at double the rate in January from prior-year levels. At this point in the recovery, we are seeing healthy reductions across much of the nation,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “As we move forward in 2013, we need to see more progress in Florida, New York, California, Illinois and New Jersey which now account for almost half of the country’s remaining shadow inventory.”
States such as Arizona, California and Colorado are already seeing significant drops in mortgage delinquencies, which suggests a declining pipeline of properties in the shadow inventory in the months to come.
Of those properties currently in the shadow inventory, one million are seriously delinquent, 798,000 are in some stage of foreclosure and 342,000 are listed as REOs.
In January, five states – Florida, California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey – held 44% of all distressed properties in the U.S.
Florida alone houses 16% of the shadow inventory.
