Tom Petruno,   LA Times   May 14, 2009

After every bear market on Wall Street, some investors are reluctant to buy because they believe many other investors will be anxious to sell into any rebound, swamping the market and stunting any recovery.

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A new Zillow.com survey of 1,266 homeowners nationwide asks, "If you saw signs of a real estate market turnaround in the next 12 months, how likely would you be to put your home up for sale?"  Twelve percent of homeowners said they'd be "very likely" to try to sell into an improving market, 8% said they'd be "likely" to do so and another 12% said they'd be "somewhat likely."

Zillow refers to that total of 32% as the "shadow inventory" of homes.

"With almost a third of homeowners poised to jump into the market at the first sign of stabilization, this could create a steady stream of new inventory adding to already record-high inventory levels, thus keeping downward pressure on home prices," said Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics.