Aug 27, 2012
Florida Distressed Property Report
Distressed properties, foreclosures, REOs and short sales will continue to affect Florida real estate market through the end of the decade. A Florida Realtors study looked at the recent history of distressed property listing and transactions relative to normal market data and concluded that the shadow inventory is the main reason Florida’s housing market will continue to struggle. Although Florida’s shadow inventory declined by 9 percent from its peak in the first quarter of 2010, as of February 2012 twenty eight percent of Florida homes had mortgages that were under-water. Due to the potential of these seriously delinquent loans moving into the shadow inventory, distressed property will remain a significant part of Florida property market. As long as distressed properties are present in the market, they will compete with normal properties and put a brake on potential real estate price increase.
————————————-
Definition of Real Estate Related Terms:
Shadow Inventory — a term that refers to real estate properties that are either in foreclosure and have not yet been sold or homes that owners are delaying putting on the market until prices improve.
Underwater — in the real estate sense is defined as having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth.
REOs or Real estate owned is a class of property owned by a lender—typically a bank, government agency, or government loan insurer.