Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, February 21, 2012
In a growing number of housing markets, sellers are facing less competition now compared to a year ago.
Inventory of for-sale homes has dropped by about 23 percent compared to this time last year, and fell by 6 percent alone from December 2011 to January 2012, according to Realtor.com data.
The age of the inventory is also declining, and is nearly 5 percent below levels last January.
The median age of for-sale housing inventory is lowest — 69 days or less — in Oakland, Calif.; Bakersfield, Calif.; Denver; Fresno, Calif.; Stockton-Lodi, Calif. and Phoexnis-Mesa, Ariz., according to January data from Realtor.com.
Meanwhile, as inventory is falling, the median list price has been on the rise: up nationally more than 3 percent year-over-year.
“Over the past year, an increasing number of markets have registered year-over-year increases in median list prices while fewer markets have experienced year-over-year list price declines,” a statement by Realtor.com notes.