Home Listing Prices, Inventory Edge Up in Q2: Altos

Both sellers' asking prices and inventory levels of residential properties rose slightly during the second quarter of this year, according to a market gauge developed by ""Altos Research"":http://www.altos.com that tracks such statistics in 10 major cities.

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Altos' 10-city composite includes Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

The ""composite of home prices"":http://na5.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.EmailAttachmentDownload?q=tAXU5tUEz1IjPVrXgcys5l1dbMruEodcmznl9QKv%2F3cSMsFb%2Bgu7lTt9LmVhc9Cl15OhjUVv96ou%0A9EYsDCvKvw%3D%3D essentially flatlined between May and June. However May had marked the first time in nine months that Altos' index posted a month-over-month increase as most of the major cities broke free of the downward spiral, and it helped to push the second quarter reading up 0.2 percent.

Altos says its composite index effectively bottomed out in January 2009 at $470,017, climbed throughout the first half of 2009 to $509,030 in July before returning to a gradual downward trend. The index stood at $477,937 as of June 2010 reflecting a decline of 6.1 percent from its 2009 summer high, according to the company's report.

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While the homebuyer tax credit may have pulled some housing demand forward, Altos says so far, restrained increases in housing inventory appear to have muted any drop-off in prices now that buyer demand has lessened.

During June, the company reports listing prices increased in 13 of the 26 major markets it watches. The Bay Area markets of San Francisco and San Jose experienced the sharpest increases in June, with prices rising 2.0 percent and 1.5 percent respectively. The Bay Area markets also showed the largest increases during the second quarter with San Francisco up 4.4 percent and San Jose up 2.5 percent.

The weakest markets were Phoenix and Miami, with listing prices falling by 2.4 percent and 2.3 percent respectively during June, Altos reported. These markets also showed the largest declines for the second quarter with prices off 3.9 percent in Phoenix and 4.0 percent in Miami.

During June, Altos found that the ""inventory of properties listed"":http://na5.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.EmailAttachmentDownload?q=tAXU5tUEz1IjPVrXgcys5l1dbMruEodcmznl9QKv%2F3cSMsFb%2Bgu7lTt9LmVhc9Cl15OhjUVv96ou%0A9EYsDCvKvw%3D%3D for sale rose by 2.8 percent across the 10-city composite. For the second quarter, inventory increased by a relatively modest 5.4 percent, the company says.

Inventory increased in all major markets with the exception of Chicago where it fell by a nominal 0.1 percent. Nationally inventory is 10 percent lower than this time in 2009, though climbing rapidly into the summer, according to the Altos study.

Inventory increased at the fastest rate in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., up 7.6 percent and 7.1 percent respectively during June. In the second quarter, listed property counts increased by 13.5 percent and 10.1 percent in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C. markets. Altos says recent price increases in San Francisco appear to have drawn more sellers into the market.