According to a story in today's Chron, a vast swath of foreclosed homes have fallen into shadow. (Cue ominous "Lord of the Rings" flourish, cut to Elijah Woods' very frightened face!) There are an estimated 600,000 properties across the countries, that is, that have been foreclosed but mysteriously held off the market; watchers fear that a flood of these missing properties onto the market would further wreck housing prices, and life in general. An analysis found more than a third of Bay Area foreclosures in such "shadow territory." Some possible reasons for the shenanigans: banks are holding back on reselling, mindful of housing prices; banks are deferring sales so they don't have to record how much money they're losing; and "pig in the python," a fat delicious glut of foreclosures that the system simply has to take a while to work through.
· Banks aren't reselling many foreclosed homes [SF Gate]
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