Time Magazine reported today that the shadow inventory of homes, nationwide, appears to be shrinking.  In 2012, estimates of the shadow inventory were as high as 10 million homes.  One reason they cite is investors snapping up distressed properties.  In Lane County that’s certainly the case and I see a lot of activity in that segment.  Well priced homes are often gone within 1 week of listing.  We do appear to have a significant shadow inventory in Lane County, but the properties seem to come on line slowly.

I thought it interesting that Time’s author said:  “All this goes to show that predicting the movement of large, complex markets like housing can be difficult even for experts who make a living doing just that.

Shadow inventory fears appear to be cooling off