For every home currently listed for sale in Mecklenburg County, at least two more are poised to come on the market – a hidden excess inventory that could depress home values and stall the market’s recovery, according to an Observer analysis.

Known as shadow inventory, these are homes that are crawling through the foreclosure process, properties that have been foreclosed on but not put up for sale, or houses whose borrowers are so delinquent they are unlikely to recover. Such homes are excluded from monthly sales statistics compiled by trade groups.

“It’s an epidemic,” said Charlotte attorney Rick Mitchell, who sees a growing number of clients who have stopped making mortgage payments but haven’t been foreclosed on. “We have a dramatic problem.”

In Mecklenburg County, the Carolina Multiple Listing Services had 7,887 homes on the market as of Oct. 31. But the Observer found far more in the shadows: an additional 16,800 distressed properties not counted among homes currently for sale.

In its analysis, the newspaper found:

About 13,000 Mecklenburg homes whose owners are more than 90 days delinquent. It is unclear how many of those are already in foreclosure, but experts say the majority are likely to be foreclosed on at some point.

More than 3,800 homes owned by lenders but not listed for sale.

For its analysis, the Observer used data from mortgage research firms RealtyTrac and CoreLogic, the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association, the U.S. Census Bureau and public records.

Shadow inventory is not a new phenomenon. But because of the housing meltdown and recession, banks are taking back a record number of homes. The foreclosure pipeline is also swelling as banks take longer to complete foreclosures and more borrowers fall behind on their loans.

When shadow inventory comes on the market, it typically sells at a steep discount, depressing neighborhood values. It scares buyers and reduces demand. Because the housing market is such a key part of the broader economy, large amounts of shadow inventory can ultimately slow economic growth.

Real estate agents say they aren’t worried because they don’t believe the pipeline will burst and flood the market at once. Plus, they say, demand has historically proven strong enough in Charlotte to gobble through any extra supply.

Nationally, the supply of homes for sale was estimated at 3.3 million as of October, according to the National Association of Realtors. Real estate research firm CoreLogic estimated U.S. shadow inventory at an additional 1.6 million homes. The Observer’s analysis suggests Charlotte is among the areas with proportionately much more shadow inventory than the country as a whole.

Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner said Charlotte’s shadow inventory, while significant, is still less than that in former hot spots such as Miami and Phoenix.

“Shadow inventory is probably the most critical part of the equation in terms of getting a recovery in housing,” Vitner said. “It has a chilling effect on people’s willingness to sell their homes. And it means it will take an even longer time for prices to get back.”

Shadow inventory problems extend across county lines. The Observer’s analysis shows the seven counties surrounding Mecklenburg have more than 17,300 homes in shadow inventory. In contrast, the seven counties had 8,636 homes listed for sale as of October.

Lancaster County in South Carolina led the region with nearly four times the amount of shadow inventory as for-sale listings. Iredell County had the lowest proportion, with shadow inventory measuring about 1.5 times the amount listed for sale.

Still growing

Allen Tate Company executive Pat Riley said despite the slow economy, Charlotte’s housing market has something going for it that other areas don’t: People are still moving here.

During the boom days, in the middle of the last decade, demand was so strong that the Charlotte area typically added – and easily absorbed – 26,000 new homes annually, Riley said. Since the downturn, Charlotte leaders have continued working to diversify the region’s employer base, something that will bring more families to the area, he said.

“We have the buyers for thousands of homes,” he said.

Still, Charlotte-area prices are expected to continue to fall next year partly because of the excess supply, Riley said.

He expects home prices to start appreciating in 2013 at a rate of 1 percent to 3 percent a year. As of 2010, average sales prices have fallen 9.6 percent since peaking in 2007, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

Some experts don’t expect housing prices nationally to return to pre-recession levels for another 10 years.

“Absorption (of shadow inventory) won’t be the problem,” Riley said. “Price depreciation will be.”

Foreclosure pace

One of the biggest reasons shadow inventory has grown is the slow pace at which banks are tackling foreclosures.

Lenders temporarily stopped such proceedings in 2010 after servicers discovered that workers signed false or incomplete legal documents and made other mistakes while foreclosing on homes. Potentially millions of homeowners now may be able to get an independent review of their case.

Some consumer groups say banks are refraining from foreclosing because they don’t want to take losses from bad loans or flood an already weak market. Other real estate experts say banks may not have enough employees to deal with the backlog.

Foreclosures in North Carolina can last more than two years instead of 90 days, as they once did, attorneys and real estate agents say.

The Observer spoke with four families whose homes are scheduled for auction. None wanted to talk for this story. All said they were trying to save their homes. Two said their auctions had been postponed.

Mitchell, the attorney, said he has one client who stopped making payments on his upscale Union County home 2 1/2 years ago. The client hasn’t heard from his lender and continues to live in the house.

“There’s been no communication,” Mitchell said. “He’s living there for free.”

Another client recently got a bill from the city of Charlotte for lawn maintenance on the home she abandoned in August. She’d thought the bank would foreclose but it hasn’t yet, Mitchell said.

“I think we haven’t even begun to see the foreclosures,” he said. “As bad as it’s been, it’s going to get worse because so many have been deferred.”

A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo said the foreclosure process can be lengthy.

“We work hard to help customers remain in their homes when they encounter difficulties and attempt to avoid foreclosure,” said Veronica Clemons with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “When that is not possible, we work diligently to manage foreclosed properties in a manner that benefits the community, until the home is sold to a new owner.”

Bob Davis, executive vice president with the American Bankers Association, said lingering joblessness is causing more people to default on their mortgages, adding to the pipeline.

“Most of the delinquencies now are connected to the poor labor market and job loss,” Davis said. “You get into a hole you are not likely to get out of. The net result is there are a large number of homes that are in the foreclosure process that likely will end up being foreclosed and back on the market.”

He said lenders don’t want to keep properties off the market. Instead, he said, banks are taking longer to foreclose because government programs and regulators have added requirements and greater scrutiny.

“It costs money to keep (a house off the market),” he said. “You’re better off moving it along.”

Shadow buyers

Charlotte Realtor Jennifer Frontera believes many of the shadow homes will fall out of the pipeline as lenders work with borrowers on loan modifications or short sales, where the lender agrees to accept less than the loan amount.

“People see shadow inventory as a big, scary, gray blob that will overtake our market at once,” said Frontera, president-elect of the Realtor association, who has sold bank-owned homes for 13 years. “The reality is, it will end up coming on the market gradually over time.”

Frontera also sees something sales reports aren’t taking into consideration: “shadow buyers.”

As an example, Frontera points to a foreclosed home that a bank is currently renovating. The work is under way, and the house isn’t on the market. Yet, Frontera has received 20 calls from prospective buyers.

She didn’t want to share where the house is located, other than to say it is in a well-established Charlotte neighborhood, for fear of how many calls she might get.

“There are buyers out there who want to be in the market, who are waiting for the perfect property,” she said.

David Benham, who founded Charlotte-based Benham REO Group with his brother Jason, can attest to the demand for distressed homes.

Benham’s real estate company, which has 95 brokers nationwide, works with lenders to dispose of distressed property. His north Charlotte office receives about 120 foreclosure assignments a month, he said.

This year, he saw a 25 percent increase in business. Next year, he expects his business to double. Demand, he said, outstrips supply.

“Everything we have is flying off the shelf,” he said. “The inventory’s not there.”

As an investor, “shadow inventory does excite me. I look forward to getting good deals on houses,” Benham said. But as a homeowner, he said he knows his home’s value will take a hit as more foreclosures reach the market.

“It’s a mixed bag of emotions,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of houses like mine are going to hit the market eventually as banks take losses on them and that will push values down.”