FDIC Insured Institutions Q2 1-4 Family REO

For Q2 2011, the FDIC reported the value of 1-4 Family REO at insured institutions as $12.09 billion, down from $13.28 billion in Q1, and down from a high of $14.76 billion in Q3 2010.

The left scale is the dollars reported in the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile, and the right scale is an estimate of REOs using an average of $150,000 per unit. Using this estimate for the average per REO, that gives 80.6 thousand REO at the end of Q2, down from 88.5 thousand at the end of Q1. This is about 5 times the carrying value in 2003.

As economist Tom Lawler noted: "This is NOT an estimate of total residential REO, as it excludes non-FHA government REO (VA, USDA, etc.), credit unions, finance companies, non-FDIC-insured banks and thrifts, and a few other lender categories." However this is the bulk of the REO - probably 90% or more. Rounding up the estimate (using 90%) suggests total REO is around 548,000 in Q2. This also does not include Construction & Development, Commercial, Farm Land REO.

REO inventories have declined over the last couple of quarters due to a combination of more sales and fewer acquisitions due to the slowdown in the foreclosure process. Many more foreclosures are likely coming.