I really think that’s why the Fed printed all that money and a great deal of it wound up as bank reserves. They are worried that the housing crash isn’t over, and they don’t want mass bank insolvencies due to massive downgrades in portfolio values and rising rates if we don’t get the debt problem under control.
You make a good point - some of these feral homes are pushing 4 years old and getting to the point where they aren’t new and are or will soon be in need of repair, further pulling prices down. And with banks barely willing to lend, no one will be buying any of these homes even if they are cheap. Even if the banks were, no one has a good enough job or job at all to float any kind of mortgage. So we are in a vicious cycle with no end in sight.