Well, a tiny piece of good news amongst the carnage. The national housing inventory has declined…a little.

The Wall Street Journal's quarterly survey of housing data in 28 major metropolitan areas showed that the supply of homes listed for sale declined from a year earlier in 19 of them. The decline is at least partly due to people taking their homes off the market after concluding that they can't get anything near the prices they desired. If the decline continues, it will signal an eventual rebound. For now, though, supplies remain so ample that potential buyers generally can take their time.

There is some other useful information in the article:

Perhaps the biggest factor pushing down home prices is the growing glut of foreclosed homes that banks and mortgage investors must sell. In May, such homes accounted for nearly 22% of all sales nationwide, Barclays Capital estimates in a report released last week. In California, Arizona and Nevada, the share was around 40%.