Enough About "Shadow Inventory"

Is 'shadow' overhyped as a housing recorver threat?

It's been a hard year to be a housing bear.
U.S. housing markets finally came alive in 2012, with home sales and housing starts up strongly. And prices are on track to end the year in positive territory for the first time since the downturn began in 2006.

First, the shadow is shrinking. It has already fallen to 3.4 million units this year from a peak of 4.7 million in 2009, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. As well, inventories of new homes for sale are at 50-year lows, while listings of previously owned homes are at an 11-year low. Banks have also become better at approving short sales, where homes sell for less than the mortgage owed.
The danger in focusing so heavily on supply is that skeptics have overlooked demand, which revved up this past year. Sales of existing homes in November were up 14.5% year over year to a three-year high.