For-Sale Housing Inventories Shrink to New Lows
Nationwide, 2.19 million homes were listed for sale at the end of September, a drop of 20 percent compared to a year earlier, and marking the lowest level on record since REALTOR.com began tracking housing inventory data in 2007.
All 146 markets that REALTOR.com tracks saw housing inventory fall year-over-year, except for Denver and El Paso, Texas. Listings were down by 49 percent in Miami, 48 percent in Phoenix, and 46 percent in Orlando, Fla.
But while reduced inventories usually help lift prices, in the current real estate market, housing prices are staying flat or declining. That’s because demand remains soft, housing experts say.
Real estate professionals told The Wall Street Journal that inventories are shrinking because some home sellers have decided to take their homes off the market instead of trying to sell at a steep discount. Banks are also moving more slowly at repossessing foreclosures, which has reduced the supply of foreclosed properties on the market — albeit a temporary decrease, many experts note.
"The inventory is low, so it's hard for buyers to find their dream home," Joan Downing, a real estate professional in the Detroit area of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., told The Wall Street Journal. "That's been our challenge more than anything: finding the inventory for the clients. Nobody's complaining about the pricing or the interest rates."
Source: “Slim Pickings Are Latest Headache for Home Sales,” The Wall Street Journal (Oct. 17, 2011)
