9 Years of Housing Backlog at Current Sales Pace; Chris Whalen on Troubled Banks "Bank of America is at Top of Restructuring List"
In a story that highlights just how severe and lingering the housing crisis is, the Wall Street Journal reports Number of the Week: 107 Months to Clear Banks’ Housing Backlog
107: How many months it would take to sell banks’ current and shadow inventory of foreclosed homes.Taking possession does not reduce shadow inventory since those are homes the banks will have to sell whether they are currently on the market or not. Regardless, the important number remains the same, a grand total of 107 months of inventory at the current sales pace.
Banks’ vast pile of foreclosed homes doesn’t appear to be diminishing. That’s a troubling sign for the future of the housing market.
Over the past six months, that number has actually risen. Banks managed to pare down the shadow inventory, but largely by taking possession of foreclosed homes. As of September, they owned nearly 994,000 foreclosed homes, up 21% from a year earlier. The shadow inventory stood at 5.2 million homes, down 7% from a year earlier. Grand total: 107 months of inventory.
Guess where the debt from these foreclosures will be eventually tacked on to? That's right tacked on for generations of Americans to pay on down the road.
