REO Could Become A Serious Problem For HUD/GSEs: FHFA Rep.

``As the housing crisis unrolled the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Freddie Mae and Fannie Mae came into possession of more and more properties thorugh foreclosure. As of September 30, 2012, HUD held 37,445 foreclosed properties (REO) while the GSEs held 158,138. In addition, the "shadow inventory"-residential loans at least 90 days delinquent-totaled 1,708,033 properties, roughly 8.7 times the size of the HUD and GSE REO inventories combined. Even a fraction of the shadow inventory falling into foreclosure could considerably swell HUD and GSE inventories of REO properties.''