American Government Holds 360,000 REOs

At the end of 2010, the Federal Housing Administration was holding 60,739 properties that it has essentially repossessed by foreclosure. This number was up a staggering 47% from 2009. When this number is combined with the REO holdings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S government has approximately 360,000 REO properties on its books. With those kind of numbers, the American government has clearly gone into the real estate business (whether it wanted to or not). It may as well form a real estate company!

And that doesn’t include the inventory to be added in 2011 or any shadow inventory. According to Capital Economics, the FHA alone has nearly 600,000 mortgages in serious delinquency. No word on Fannie and Freddie estimates.

What this means is the government’s real estate holdings will clearly be increasing again in 2011.

Source: ShortSaleDailyNews