800,000 mortgages in California are 30+ days late or in foreclosure. Only 132,000 show up in the MLS. Why there will be no housing bottom for Californ

The latest data on new and existing home sales shows us evidence that housing has benefited from a bear market bounce but that has now come to an end. The drop in existing home sales was sizable but the drop in new home sales came in at a record breaking figure. The difference here comes from the large amount of distress inventory still moving at lower prices. The amount of troubled mortgages still filtering through the system is large and gives us pause for caution. Much of the boost can be said to have come from massive government intervention. In California there is now money going to banks to match a principal reduction for those homeowners in distress. In other words, the focus is on problems and not having a more stable market for housing. Over the last year, we also saw many people moving off the sidelines spurred by low interest rates, tax credits, and the perception that housing had hit bottom. For California, the data signifies that there will not be a bottom until at least 2012 and that is what we will examine in this article. (more)