The nation’s shadow inventory — the pending supply of seriously delinquent (90-plus days) and distressed homes that will eventually make their way to the market — dropped 10.2 percent in July compared to a year ago, according to CoreLogic’s latest report.  That puts CoreLogic’s estimate of current residential shadow inventory at 2.3 million units, a decline from 2.6 million a year ago.

Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a news release that the decline in shadow inventory reflects the lower outflow of distressed sales in the last year and while that has helped alleviate downward pressure on home prices…”long foreclosure timelines in some parts of the country causes these pools of shadow inventory to remain in limbo for an extended period of time.”

Illinois is a state with a longer timeline as the foreclosure process must go through the courts. As of July 2012, Illinois, Florida, California, New York and New Jersey accounted for 45 percent of distressed properties in the country, according to CoreLogic.

Read the full CoreLogic report and see CoreLogic’s graphic below on state delinquency rates.

Source: CoreLogic