The Housing Market's "Phantom Inventory"

Foreclosure activity is down, sales are picking up, shadow inventory is shrinking, and prices are rising for the first time since President Obama launched his First-time Homebuyer Credit program in 2009 which juiced the market for a couple of months before demand fizzled and prices resumed their downward skid. Analysts are confident that that won't happen again. They assure us that, "this time the recovery is real."

Okay, but what does the data say?