Three Reasons Why Housing Inventory is So Low

There’s no question about it, the operative theme of the 2013 housing market is restricted supply. Ever since the bubble burst in 2006, we’ve been hearing about the dangers of over supply, of the massive “shadow inventory” out there. Yet we’re living in a vastly different reality. There are 40% fewer homes on the market now than there have been during February in the last few years.

small-inventory

Inventory of actively for sale homes. Single Family Homes. Altos 20-city (national) composite. Data as of February 22, 2013. Source: Altos ResearchMid-January typically marks the seasonal low of available housing inventory. The fewest homes are on the market after the holidays. But pretty quickly they start coming on the market to prepare for spring. Inventory gets added until the first week of July, when people start looking forward to the Autumn.

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