Housing Inventory at Lowest Level in 10-Years as Demand Continues to Increase

A recent forecast from Zillow, the Seattle-based online real estate database company predicts that home sales will peak during the autumn 2020 season and begin to moderate into 2021 but remain above pre-pandemic levels. In the upcoming months Zillow is forecasting seasonally adjusted home prices will rise 1.2% between August and November and rise 4.8% between August 2020 and August 2021 – the latter replaces a previous forecast aiming at a 3.8% increase in home prices over the same time frame. Citing proprietary data for the week ending Sept. 19, Zillow noted that buyers’ demand is showing no signs of abating: pending sales are 21.8% higher year-over-year. However, this could eventually cool as the summer buying season transitions into the traditionally slower autumn months. Average time-on-market for listings is now at 13 days, only one day quicker than the same period last year. Zillow points out a more significant year-over-year measurement can be found in housing inventory. Zillow reported the decline became acute during the first week of June and has yet to reverse itself, as for-sale listings plummeted by -34.6% below the level set one year ago. This is the greatest year-over-year deficit seen since Zillow started tracking weekly statistics in 2009. There were -13.6% fewer new listings last week versus the same point in 2019.