Tag Archives: Inventory

With a new year on the horizon, what does the future have in store? A recent report breaks down the top five market trends to look out for in 2018.

With mortgage rates holding steady and joblessness remaining low, homeowners have reason to be hopeful when selling their home. See more details inside.

According to a recent report, first-time homebuyers have the lowest rate of foreclosures ever seen. Learn more about this and other foreclosure stats impacting today's housing market.

Renters and homeowners do not see the same rosy picture when it comes to houses for sale, but if homeowners were to follow through with their optimism, the housing market could become a healthy one.

The most pressing problem facing the housing industry today is the tight inventory and millennials may be partly to blame. As many young potential buyers move into cities and away from the suburbs, housing construction has been notoriously weak. Cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles have seen their suburban areas shrink.

The falling inventory has many industry professionals worried, especially as demand picks up. Data from Redfin shows that homes in April sold the fastest since 2010, and sold 10 days faster than a year previously. Many homes, one in four, sold above their list price.

Inventory has dropped yet again, declining 14 percent over last year and 25 percent since 2015. Seattle was hit the worst as far as inventory, coming in with a 1.75, the lowest Months Remaining Inventory index of all metros measured. An MRI between six and 10 indicates a balanced market.

New data shows inventory is down 5 percent over the year, with the biggest decreases in Minneapolis, Columbus, and Seattle. Home values are up 6.8 percent year-over-year, hitting $196,500 for the month of March. Values appreciated most in Tampa, Dallas, and Seattle.

The twin realities of the current U.S. housing market‒‒rising home prices and shrinking inventories in nearly every metro‒‒are increasingly putting homes out of reach for middle-income workers within their cities. The typical American worker makes just over $37,000 annually, while the typical American house costs just under $255,000.

The strong housing recovery may be partly to blame for the large drop in inventory experienced in some markets during the past five years. On average, the more increased the housing values in a particular area above pre-recession levels, the greater the decrease in present housing inventory. The significant drop in starter and trade-up home inventory is pushing affordability further out of reach of some homebuyers.