Zillow reports foreclosure sales up on LI

The “shadow inventory” – all those foreclosed homes that had not yet hit the market for resale – seems to be coming out of the shadows. Foreclosure resales made up a larger percentage of home sales in March than in February for both Nassau and Suffolk counties, Zillow reported Monday.

In Suffolk, 11 percent of sales were foreclosure resales -- a 2.1 percent increase month over month. Foreclosure resales in Nassau made up 5.4 percent of sales -- a .9 percent uptick month over month, the online real estate markeplace reports.

As the foreclosed properties creep back onto the market, home values are slipping. Year over year, home values declined 1.5 percent in Nassau and fell 4.3 percent in Suffolk.

For the nation, home values fell 3 percent quarter over quarter. Negative equity reached a new high with 28.4 percent of all single-family homes with mortgages underwater, up from 27 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, due to accelerating home value declines.