Huge Potential Increases In Inventory
From Bloomberg, 10/26:
"A record 17.9 million U.S. homes stood empty in the third quarter as lenders took possession of a growing number of properties in foreclosure.
The figure is a 7.8 percent gain from a year ago, when 16.6 million properties were vacant, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. About 2.07 million empty homes were for sale, compared with 1.94 million a year earlier, the report said."
So if I'm reading this correctly, there are currently 2.07 million homes for
sale in the U.S., BUT 18.9 million more waiting to come to market. In other words, only one out of nine empty/forclosed/whatever homes are currently up for sale. When the others finally work their way through the legal and banking systems there's suddenly going to be some real downward pressure on prices.
I wonder what the numbers are for the Seattle area?
"A record 17.9 million U.S. homes stood empty in the third quarter as lenders took possession of a growing number of properties in foreclosure.
The figure is a 7.8 percent gain from a year ago, when 16.6 million properties were vacant, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. About 2.07 million empty homes were for sale, compared with 1.94 million a year earlier, the report said."
So if I'm reading this correctly, there are currently 2.07 million homes for
sale in the U.S., BUT 18.9 million more waiting to come to market. In other words, only one out of nine empty/forclosed/whatever homes are currently up for sale. When the others finally work their way through the legal and banking systems there's suddenly going to be some real downward pressure on prices.
I wonder what the numbers are for the Seattle area?
Comments
Indeed. It would be very interesting to see what how the number of vacant homes in the Puget Sound has changed over time. I wonder if there is any kind of correlation between the number of vacant homes and the over-all real-estate cycle (e.g. markets are at a peak when vacancies are highest, etc)?
"The number of total vacant housing units, 17.9 million, was higher than the estimated number in third quarter 2006. Of these vacant housing units, 13.3 million were for year-round use and 4.6 million were seasonal. Approximately 3.9 million of the year-round vacant units were for rent, 2.1 million were for sale only, and the remaining 7.4 million units were vacant for a variety of other reasons."
The 'variety of other reasons' sure is a big number that needs some additional explanation.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/ ... n06t9.html
That seems to count just about everything that has a roof. I wonder if those old missle sites are included.
Washington state is under 2%.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/ ... n06t4.html