Some markets are beginning to feel the relief of more for-sale inventory, but others are seeing the number of listings further shrink. And where inventory continues to be constrained, home prices are accelerating, bidding wars are erupting, and buyers are finding fewer choices than ever before. “Competition [for homes] has virtually doubled over the past five years,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor.com®.
Realtor.com® analyzed the amount of inventory that has disappeared from the market over the past three years within the 50 largest metros. Minneapolis, for example, has lost the equivalent of two Malls of America in housing inventory in that period. Researchers identified the following places, where the number of homes on the market has dropped the most in the first six months of 2018 compared to the same time period in 2015:
1. Sacramento, Calif.
- Median list price: $453,000
- Decrease in inventory: 55.1%
- Median list price: $334,600
- Decrease in inventory: 52.2%
- Median list price: $260,000
- Decrease in inventory: 49.6%
- Median list price: $190,000
- Decrease in inventory: 47.1%
- Median list price: $248,500
- Decrease in inventory: 46.4%
Source:
“Where Did All the Homes Go? A Historic Shortage, and Cities It’s Hitting Hardest,” realtor.com® (Oct. 1, 2018)
