LA Renter good question. I think that last year was a wake up call for sellers that the peak was already in the rear view mirror. I would not say they were trying to cash out at the top, but they sure were trying to cash out. I think you nailed it, alot of it was soft inventory. Alot of the psyche was okay if I don’t sell now then in 07 it will get better… so it didn’t get better… why didn’t they return to the market? Well either they think it will be better in 08, or they decided to say screw it I am gonna sit on my equity and not sell… I couldn’t put a number on it but I think it was a fair percentage. Given that inventory did not hit last years levels AND we know that the percentage of distress sales this year is way up from last year, then that does back up logic that soft inventory last year made up a fair percentage of active listings.
