The market is becoming increasingly competitive says Realtor.com
The US housing market has lost nearly 98,000 listings compared to a year ago.
Realtor.com’s October 2019 housing trend report says that a faster pace of sales in the last year, along with a declining inventory, has made it harder for would-be buyers to enter the market despite favorable interest rates.
Further adding to the decline is a decrease of 3.4% year-over-year in the volume of new listings hitting the market; and this was particularly clear among entry-level homes, with the number of homes priced under $200,000 down 15.2% year over year.
By comparison inventory of mid-tier homes ($200,000 to $750,000) was down 4.3% while the inventory of homes selling for more than $750,000 was up by 1.3%.
"Owning a home continues to be a priority for buyers, as we head into the cooler months of the year. Driven by the tailwind of sub-4 percent mortgage rates, the steady demand for housing is drying market inventory at an accelerating pace," according to realtor.com® Senior Economist George Ratiu. "With dwindling supply, prices maintain their upward pressure, deepening the affordability challenges for first-time buyers."
In the nation's 50 largest metros, inventory declined by 5.3% year-over-year. The metros which saw the biggest drop in inventory were San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif. (-20.1%), Rochester, N.Y. (-20.1%), and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-20.0%).
Listing price increase
The median listing price was up 4.3% year-over-year, reaching $312,000 in October, with 43 of the 50 largest metros seeing an increase.
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala. (+15.4%); Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif. (+13.9%); and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (+13.0%); posted the highest year-over-year median list price growth in October.
The steepest declines in median list price were seen in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. (-2.9%), Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind. (-2.9%) and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas (-1.6%).
