13
Journal
NUMBER OF
HOMES FOR
SALE AT ALL-
TIME LOW
e number of U.S. homes for sale dipped
below 700,000 for the first time, setting a new
low mark for listed inventory, according to the
Monthly Housing Trends Report published
by Realtor.com.
Nationally, the number of homes for
sale was down by 39.6% year over year, with
449,000 fewer homes for sale compared to
December 2019. However, newly listed homes
were only down by 0.8% year over year, an
improvement from the November data when
new listings were down 8.7% from one year
earlier.
On a regional basis, the Western and
Northeastern larger markets recorded the
greatest year-over-year gains in new listings
hitting the market, up 30.8% and 15%,
respectively, while the Midwest only managed
a relatively anemic 0.2% increase and the
South recorded a 4% decline. California's Bay
Area saw the greatest increase in new listings
with a 123.8% annualized increase in San Jose
and a 98.9% spike in San Francisco, while
Nashville had the greatest decline for that
period at 19.9%.
Realtor.com also reported the median
listing price grew 13.4% year over year to
$340,000, slightly below its peak of $350,000.
Regionally, the greatest annual gains were
in the Northeast (12.2%), followed by the
West (+10.4%), Midwest (+8.6%), and South
(+6.7%). Texas' capital city Austin had the
greatest year-over-year median listing price
increase at 20%, while Minneapolis was
the only major metro going in the opposite
direction with a 1.6% decline.
Homes sold in 66 days on average last
month, 13 days faster than in December 2019,
while homes in the nation's 50 largest metros
sold in only 56 days on average on market.
"e shortage of homes for sale has
been an ongoing issue for the last couple
of years, but in December, the combination
of the holiday inventory slowdown and the
pandemic buying trend caused it to dip to its
lowest level in history," Realtor.com Chief
Economist Danielle Hale said. "Looking
forward, we could see new lows in the next
couple of months as buyers remain relatively
active, but a surge of new COVID-19 cases
may slow the number of sellers entering the
market."
Hale added that improvements in the
supply of homes for sale were being forecasted
in the second half of the year, although she
admitted, that "Until then, finding a home
will continue to be a top challenge for buyers
across all price ranges."
