Foreclosure Backlog Casts Pall Over Housing Recovery

The ailing housing market remains hampered by the backlog of distressed properties, which is growing larger as banks repossess more homes than they sell.

Banks now hold more than 872,000 homes, nearly twice as many as in 2007, The New York Times reports, citing data from RealtyTrac. In regions like Atlanta and Minneapolis, banks are seizing more homes than they're selling, suggesting that their staffs are overwhelmed by the volume of foreclosures, notes the NYT.