Over the holidays, many lenders put foreclosures on hold. But that temporary freeze is over now. Industry watchers are expecting thousands of foreclosed properties to hit the market in the weeks and months ahead.

Home foreclosure sales slowed down at the end of 2010 for two reasons: the regular holiday foreclosure freezes, and the remnants of the so-called robo-signing scandal.

In the fall, many lenders put evictions on hold while they reviewed their foreclosure procedures. Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac says that's behind us now — and the pace of foreclosure is about to pick up.  Sharga expects banks to repossess close to 100,000 homes in January alone.

But Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, says it doesn't come as a surprise.

Yun says there is a massive shadow inventory — homes not yet on the market where the owners are more than 90 days behind on their payments.  "It's just inevitable that they will go into a foreclosure," he says.

Yun believes it will be gradual and not all at once. But the question is whether the already fragile housing market will be able to handle them.

"Hopefully the improving economy, job creation, will provide the necessary housing demand to absorb the shadow inventory that will be reaching the market," he says.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/03/132523689/u-s-home-foreclosures-may-top-100-000-in-january