Oct 18 2013

Housing Inventory Making a Comeback

We are seeing this in the Gig Harbor home market now with a neutral supply of homes at a bit more than six months…a far cry from the 3.5 month supply of the second quarter.

The shortage of homes for sale earlier in the year created an imbalance of supply to demand which resulted in double digit year-over-year price increases nationally. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the inventory of homes for sale is now beginning to reach more normal levels. The article reported:

“Housing inventories increased in August and stood just 2.5% below their levels of a year ago, offering the latest sign that more sellers are testing the market after swift home-price gains over the past year.

Nationally, there were 1.98 million homes listed for sale in August, according to a report released Thursday by Realtor.com. That was up by more than 24% from the low point in February and up 1% from July. Inventories have increased for six straight months.”

What about Home Prices?

This doesn’t mean prices will collapse. The inventory levels are still depressed, just improving. As the article mentions:

“While the overall level of homes for sale remains relatively depressed, the report suggests that inventory may have hit a bottom earlier this year after an extended two-year decline.”

However, as we mentioned last week, properly pricing your home in this market can be tricky. You should depend on the advice of your real estate agent.

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