Vast shadow inventory threatens Miami’s real estate recovery

While Miami sales activity has been improving, there’s a shadow lurking behind the residential real estate recovery, the Miami Herald reported. Specifically, more than 200,000 homes are either owned by lenders or headed for foreclosure in Miami compared to a current inventory of about 30,000 listed on the active market.

“A lot of people don’t understand how much inventory is set to come on line in the next 18 to 24 months,” said Deerfield Beach-based McCabe Research & Consulting CEO Jack McCabe. “When you compare what the Realtors show as inventory to what’s out there, you realize we have a long way to go.”

Miami, along with Las Vegas, Cleveland and Sacramento, was the hardest-hit market in the nation by the recession, although the numbers are grim from coast to coast. Nationwide there are 3.5 million homes listed for sale, representing a nine months supply as about 5 million homes are on pace to be sold this year. A healthy market has an inventory of about six months, or 2.4 million homes in this sales climate. But 4 million more homes are part of a vast shadow inventory that pushes the total supply to three times that figure. [Miami Herald]