According to The Wall Street, media outlets are continuously reporting that a large shadow inventory of potential foreclosures remains a threat to the housing market. But the paper says:

There’s just one problem: the data doesn’t show it.

For the past three years, a number of housing pundits have issued ominous warnings about the millions of underwater mortgages, modified mortgages, and delinquent mortgages that threatened to drag down the housing market. But efforts to modify and refinance mortgages—together with surprisingly strong demand from investors for distressed properties—have whittled down this shadow supply.