More than 20,000 foreclosures in 2006 took 4 years to resell: CoreLogic

Analysts studied the destinations of more 355,000 properties that hit foreclosure auctions in 2006. Investors bought about one-third of them at the courthouse steps, and the remaining 233,000 went back onto lenders' books as real estate owned.

Of those, 90%, or 210,000 homes, sold as REO to third-party buyers. Of these, half took six months to sell and 21% took more than one year to unload.

But 23,200 sat unsold for four years, CoreLogic found. These are properties that entered the foreclosure process before the system surpassed its maximum capacity in many states. REO sales have yet to peak, meaning the time banks and the U.S. government will have to hold these homes could go even longer.

And....

Such stagnant pools of inventory have crippled any recovery in home prices. Most analysts predict even more depreciation in 2012. Billions in government initiatives such as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and the Hardest Hit Fund went to help states and nonprofits resell vacant and abandoned foreclosures even as Republicans in the House moved to cut these programs.

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