Weekly Update: Housing Tracker Existing Home Inventory up 2.1% year-over-year on Nov 4th - InvestingChannel

Weekly Update: Housing Tracker Existing Home Inventory up 2.1% year-over-year on Nov 4th

Here is another weekly update on housing inventory … for the third consecutive week, housing inventory is up year-over-year.  This suggests inventory bottomed early this year.

There is a clear seasonal pattern for inventory, with the low point for inventory in late December or early January, and then peaking in mid-to-late summer.

The Realtor (NAR) data is monthly and released with a lag (the most recent data was for September).  However Ben at Housing Tracker (Department of Numbers) has provided me some weekly inventory data for the last several years.

Existing Home Sales Weekly data Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the Housing Tracker reported weekly inventory for the 54 metro areas for 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

In 2011 and 2012, inventory only increased slightly early in the year and then declined significantly through the end of each year.

Inventory in 2013 is now above the same week in 2012 (red is 2013, blue is 2012).

We can be pretty confident that inventory bottomed early this year, and I expect the seasonal decline to be less than usual at the end of the year – so the year-over-year change will continue to increase. 

Inventory is still very low, but this increase in inventory should slow house price increases.

Related posts

Idiocy in Spain: Bank Proposal to Build More Houses, Issue More Mortgages, Despite Massive Inventory and Enormous Drop in Sales

Mish Global Economic Trend Analysis

Sky City: China to Build World’s Tallest Building, 220 Stories, in 90 Days

Mish Global Economic Trend Analysis

It’s No Wonder People Don’t Understand the “Public” Debt

Angry Bear

EU Budget Laugh of the Day “No One Is Discussing Quality”

Mish Global Economic Trend Analysis

Via Barry Ritholtz’s  Big Picture comes this PBS six minute …

Angry Bear

Politics and Specific Policies

Angry Bear