A lack of inventory has plagued the U.S. housing market in recent years, and although it’s still a significant issue, the gap is narrowing.A lack of inventory has plagued the U.S. housing market in recent years, and although it’s still a significant issue, the gap is narrowing.
Supply was down 2% in October compared to the same time a year ago, according to a report Thursday from Realtor.com. However, instead of supply decreasing in October compared to September—as it typically does—the inventory of homes for sale grew by 5.1%.
Still, there’s a lot of ground to make up when it comes to available housing supply, as active inventory remained 41.8% below typical prepandemic levels, measured from from 2017-19, the data showed.
Meanwhile, a typical home spent 50 days on the market last month, one day fewer than in October 2022 and 16 days fewer than they did in the average October from 2017-19, the report said.
“While record-high mortgage rates are putting off many would-be buyers, decreases in both inventory and time homes spend on the market shows that some buyers are moving quickly to lock in rates before they can go any higher,” Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, said in the report.
the median list price declined, from $430,000 last month to $425,000 in October, the figures showed. Listing prices have remained elevated because of a lack of inventory, but the median listing price was relatively stable in October compared to the same time last year.
“Buyers did see some measure of relief in stable home prices this month, and we’ll be watching the rising share of listings with reduced prices to see how that impacts prices in the near future,” Hale said.
Mansion Global is owned by Dow Jones. Both Dow Jones and Realtor.com are owned by News Corp.
