Homebuyers got excited and gave the edge back to sellers

Online real estate brokerage Redfin collects tons of data on the real estate deals it helps put together, which tells us a lot about the housing supply in the U.S.

This data is actually really useful for you homebuyers and sellers out there because Redfin’s good at breaking stuff down into local metro areas.

Redfin’s latest is a report on a small decline in national housing supply. Nationally, there were 0.3% fewer homes for sale in June than the previous June.

That was the first year-over-year decline since September. That means there were more homes for sale every month for the last 10 months than there were during those months in 2018

QUICK HOUSING SUPPLY STATS:

– San Jose had largest increase in number of homes for sale in June 2019: up 43.6%

– Seattle, Boston, Denver, Las Vegas, Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, and Nashville all had double-digit increases in inventory

– Oklahoma City, Oklahoma had the largest decrease in inventory: down 15.3%

– Richmond, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Buffalo, New York also saw double-digit decreases in inventory

-Again, national inventory saw a 0.3% decrease

WHAT’S THAT MEAN?

Basically, it’s a hiccup in the power shift that’s started to favor buyers lately.

Lower inventory helps sellers. If there are fewer homes on the market for buyers to shop for, sellers can demand more concessions and higher home prices.

Recent economic data and low interest rates have gassed up buyers, but releasing pent-up buying energy put pressure on the supply of homes on the market. That could put buyers back where they started before things started to look better for them recently.

WHERE’S THE LOCAL FLAVOR?

Remember real estate is hyper-local. These national trends don’t necessarily help you navigate your own financial life. Lucky for us, Redfin gets pretty granular with these reports so you can take this data home.

Sharp decreases in inventory can reveal a hot market. For example, it makes sense that Virginia cities are seeing big declines. People are probably eat up homes ahead of Amazon opening up its new headquarters there.

Check the table at the bottom of the Redfin post to get a feel for which way the wind is blowing in your metro area.

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Reference:

– Supply of Homes for Sale Down 0.3 Percent in June, First Annual Decline in 10 Months (Redfin)