The ballooning inventory of available foreclosure properties should be an area of concern among lending institutions. This situation is good news, however, for those who track and invest in the foreclosure market.

The relative stability of U.S. foreclosure inventory ended in December. With lending institutions closing their books at the end of the year, it is somewhat common for the foreclosure inventory to rise. It is premature...

This is primarily because of a decrease in investment and speculative real estate activity in those markets. That investment activity has been moving away from California and into Texas, where the housing market has not...