Distressed Inventory Report 10-31-09

The trend continues. The ratio of Notices of Trustee sale (NTS) to foreclosed homes continues to decline in all areas. The interesting market is East Bellevue where the NTS/Foreclosed ratio is down to its lowest level at 1.25 however overall the number of total distressed homes is up to 88 from a bottom of 73. There are now 39 foreclosed homes in East Bellevue this is the highest number since the report began. I think we can see the reason for this in the MLS numbers for East Bellevue. The number of listed foreclosed homes was only showing 2 listed homes when the banks in the area owned almost 30 homes. Well this week the listed foreclosed inventory took a big jump to 9 homes. Looks like some of this inventory is finally being brought to the market.

It looks like a buying window is starting to form. Increasing amounts of listed foreclosed inventory is coming to the market when sales volume slow seasonally and also in this market cycle after a good run of volume that appeared to use some of the pent up demand from buyers who were looking for lower prices. Now in addition to the seasonal slow down there needs to be a cooling off period while new demand builds again. If the NTS/foreclosed ratios keep declining then it means that in the spring there will be less overall distressed inventory which will support pricing in the market but in the near term in our slowest period there will be a number of bank owned homes coming to the market. In the next month there will be some more downward pressure on priceas as these bank sellers will have pressure to off load these homes and more will keep coming on. When the lenders list these homes they want them sold. Most only give 60 day listings and to some extent they are their own worst enemy on their inability to manage the sale of these homes through call centers. They think abusing buyers is a good marketing technique. Once you see the listed inventory spike that will be the time to make a move. If the bank owned inventory spikes and the NTS inventory keeps dwindling then that will clear the deck for the spring market. At that time some of our local sellers can enter the market and maybe have some price support. However for right now keep an eye on the listed bank owned inventory and let the out of town servicers give our local buyers an opportunity at a good deal.

Here is the link to the spreadsheet: Bellevue Foreclosure Report 10-31-09

Tags: bank owned, Distressed Inventory, Foreclosed, Notice of trusteee sale, report, Weekly

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 8:56 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.