Tight inventory means fast-homebuying says Trulia

Homebuyers are having to work fast to snap up their dream home as tight inventory continues to challenge the market

Tight inventory means fast-homebuying says Trulia
Homebuyers are having to work fast to snap up their dream home as tight inventory continues to challenge the market.

Trulia says that there was an 8.9% decline in national home inventory year-over-year between April and June 2017, with a 20% drop from 5 years ago. Availability of starter homes was down 15% with trade-ups down 13% and  premium home inventory down 3.9%.

Just 47% of homes are still on the market after 2 months and this is especially true in the tightest markets.
"As inventory continues shrink, the few homes that are available are flying off the market within a couple of months,” said Trulia’s chief economist Ralph McLaughlin. “In the tightest markets in California, only 1 in 4 homes are still on the market after two months. Clearly, this spring is not bringing the inventory relief buyers so desperately need. In today's frenzied market, buyers must be prepared to (1) move fast, (2) be flexible with sellers' timelines, and (3) make multiple offers."

Trulia’s data shows that buyers will need more of their income for buying their home this year compared to 2016. A typical starter-homebuyer would need to dedicate 39.1% of their monthly income to buy a median priced home ($169,129), up more than 3 percentage points from a year ago. A trade-up buyer would need 26% to buy a home at the $293,799 median.