This is all becoming a bit routine. I write about how little housing inventory is currently for sale in San Diego. Then I write about the apparent mountain of “shadow inventory” — homes that have entered foreclosure, or may yet do so, but that are not yet on the market. And then I go on and on about the irony, market distortions, and general analytical weirdness that result from having so much shadow inventory looming alongside so little genuine inventory.
In my defense, sometimes I reverse the order in which I write about these things.
But it’s pretty much been the same story for a while.
Last month was no exception. Earlier this week, I wrote about how the trend toward a tighter supply of inventory had strengthened yet again in June. And now, here I am a few days later to report that foreclosure activity increased that same month.
In my defense, I have a graph. With, you know, colors.
So, the weirdness continues. Someday there will be some resolution. Either the shadow inventory will hit the market, or it will become clear that it will be kept off indefinitely, or — in yet another strange San Diego-esque bifurcation — there will be a combination of the two outcomes. The future of the market will become a lot clearer at that point. For now, it remains obscured in the shadows.