Saturday, August 18, 2012

MARKET TRENDS: US housing inventory falls 19% in July as prices slowly rise



The housing market is in recovery mode as evidenced by plummeting inventory levels and rising median prices, Realtor.com noted in its National & Local Market Trends report.
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The total number of single-family, condo, townhome and co-op listings hit 1.86 million in July, down 19.26% from a year earlier and well below the nation's peak inventory of 3.10 million units in Sept. 2007.
The median age of the nation's inventory is hovering around 88 days, down 9.27% from last year, while the median list price hit $194,900, up 2.63%, Realtor.com said.  
Overall, list prices still remain well below their 2007 peak of $250,000.
Rising or stable prices combined with lower inventory levels are generally a sign of a market in recovery mode, the report noted. Older industrialized parts of the U.S. economy continue to show signs of weakness when it comes to housing.
On the other hand, for-sale inventories declined in most U.S. markets, except for Shreveport, Los Angeles and Pennsylvania.
List prices grew in 91 of the 146 surveyed markets and declined in only 22 markets.
"This pattern is in stark contrast to trends observed in July 2011, when median list prices were
down -1% or more on an annual basis in 58 of the 146 markets covered by Realtor.com," the report noted.

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