• Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 12.2% above year ago levels.
For a 13th consecutive week, active listings registered above prior year level, which means that today’s home shoppers have more homes to choose from that aren’t already in the process of being sold. The added inventory has certainly improved conditions from this time one year ago, but overall inventory is still low. For the month as a whole, January inventory is down nearly 40% below 2017 to 2019 levels.
• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were up this week, by 12.8% from one year ago.
Newly listed homes were above last year’s levels for the 15th week in a row. It was the biggest jump in nearly three years, which could further contribute to a recovery in active listings meaning more options for home shoppers.
Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in inventory according to realtor.com.
Inventory was up year-over-year for the 13th consecutive week following 20 consecutive weeks with a YoY decrease in inventory.