Wednesday, August 14, 2013

More markets see more homes listed for sale

More homes being listed for sale expand buyers' choices and may help to moderate price increases.

 

 More homes are coming on the market, which is a good sign for buyers.

In July, the inventory of homes for sale nationwide was only down 5.2% from a year ago, Realtor.com says.

That's an improvement from January, when for sale inventories were down 16% from the year before, according to Realtor.com.

More markets are also seeing inventories grow.

The for-sale inventory was up year-over-year in 25 markets in July, compared to just seven in April, Realtor.com says.

Three of those were Riverside, Calif., where inventories were up 26% year over year; Atlanta, up almost 18%; and Sacramento, Calif., up almost 17%.

All three cities have seen rapid price appreciation in the past year, in part because of super tight inventories.

"Larger inventories, especially in the hotter markets that experienced rapid price increases in the spring, are expanding buyers' choices and helping to moderate price increases," says Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, which operates Realtor.com.

The national median list price increased 5.3% in July year over year, Realtor.com says.

Home prices were up 11.9% in June year over year, according to the latest data from market researcher CoreLogic.

The supply of homes for sale in June changed only a little.

In June, the supply stood at 5.2 months, the National Association of Realtors says, up from 5 months in May.

That means at June's sales pace, all homes would sell in that time frame if no new inventory was added.

Inventory conditions will continue to broadly favor sellers for months and contribute to above normal price growth, the National Association of Realtors has said.


Article courtesy of USA Today

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