Inventory Shows Signs of Improving
The state of the current real estate market includes challenges for buyers to find available homes for purchase as the supply has not been keeping up with demand. However, per a report recently shared from Realtor.com, we are seeing that sellers are slowly beginning to be more active in the market.
Javier Vivas, Director of Economic Research at Realtor.com states: “Seller confidence has been improving gradually after reaching its bottom in mid-April, and now it appears to have reached an important recovery milestone…After five long months, sellers are back in the housing market; while encouraging, the improvement to new listings is only the first step in the long road to solving low inventory issues keeping many buyers at bay.”
Even though more homes are starting to get listed for sale the inventory levels are still lower than where we need to see them keep up with strong buyer demand. The current housing stock level is good for about four months at the sales pace now but ideally, we would need enough for six months for things to be in a healthy balance. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:
“Total housing inventory at the end of June totaled 1.57 million units, up 1.3% from May, but still down 18.2% from one year ago (1.92 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 4.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from both 4.8 months in May and from the 4.3-month figure recorded in June 2019.”
Sellers
It can still be a great time for sellers to enter the market as chances are that competition in their area is still relatively low. Most homeowners will not want to wait until more sellers list their homes where options will be more abundant. In many regions, the fall market can be a time when activity increases anyway.
Buyers
The signs of more inventory coming on the market are refreshing as there will be more to choose from in buyer searches. Record low mortgage rates continue to stay at unheard-of levels which makes now an excellent time to make a home purchase.
In the end, housing inventory still needs to grow to satisfy buyer demand but we see things moving in that direction. For anyone who is thinking about a move in the near future, now is a great time to reach out to your real estate professionals and discuss your plans.
