The sad reality is that negative equity, short sales, and foreclosures, will likely be around for quite a while. “Negative equity”, which is the excess by which total debt encumbering the home exceeds its present fair market value, is almost becoming a fact of life. We know from the RMLS™ Market Action report that average and median prices this summer have continued to fall over the same time last year. The main reason is due to the volume of “shadow inventory”. This term refers to the amorphous number of homes – some of which we can count, such as listings and pendings–and much of which we can only estimate, such as families on the cusp of default, but current for the moment. Add to this “shadow” number, homes already 60 – 90 days delinquent, those already in some stage of foreclosure, and those post-foreclosure properties held as bank REOs, but not yet on the market, and it starts to look like a pretty big number. By some estimates, it may take nearly four years to burn through all of the shadow inventory. Digging deeper into the unknowable, we cannot forget the mobility factor, i.e. people needing or wanting to sell due to potential job relocation, changes in lifestyle, family size or retirement – many of these people, with and without equity, are still on the sidelines and difficult to estimate.
As long as we have shadow inventory, prices will remain depressed.[1] Why? Because many of the homes coming onto the market will be ones that have either been short sold due to negative equity, or those that have been recently foreclosed. In both cases, when these homes close they become a new “comp”, i.e. the reference point for pricing the next home that goes up for sale. [A good example of this was the first batch of South Waterfront condos that went to auction in 2009. The day after the auction, those sale prices became the new comps, not only for the unsold units in the building holding the auction, but also for many of the neighboring buildings. – PCQ]
All of these factors combine to destroy market equilibrium. That is, short sellers’ motivation is distorted. Homeowners with negative equity have little or no bargaining power. Pricing is driven by the “need” to sell, coupled with the lender’s decision to “bite the bullet” and let it sell. Similarly, for REO property, pricing is motivated by the banks’ need to deplete inventory to make room for more foreclosures. A primary factor limiting sales of bank REO property is the desire not to flood the market and further depress pricing. Only when market equilibrium is restored, i.e. a balance is achieved where both sellers and buyers have roughly comparable bargaining power, will we see prices start to rise. Today, that is not the case – even for sellers with equity in their homes. While equity sales are faster than short sales, pricing is dictated by buyers’ perception of value, and value is based upon the most recent short sale or REO sale.
So, the vicious circle persists. In today’s world of residential real estate, it is a fact of life. The silver lining, however, is that most Realtors® are becoming much more adept – and less intimidated – by the process. They understand these new market dynamics and are learning to deal with the nuances of short sales and REOs. This is a very good thing, since it does, indeed, appear as if this will be the “new normal” for quite a while.
