The Number of Homes For Sale in U.S. Hits New Record Low Level in December

According to the Monthly Housing Trends Report published by Realtor.com, the number of U.S. homes for sale dipped below 700,000 for the first time, setting a new record low mark for listed inventory. Year-over-year, the number of homes for sale nationally was down by 39.6%, with 449,000 fewer homes for sale when compared to December 2019. On a positive note, newly listed home were only down -0.8% year-over-year, which is an improvement from the November 2020 data when new listings were down 8.7% from one year earlier. In prepared comments, Danielle Hale, Realtor.com Chief Economist said, “The shortage of homes for sale has been an ongoing issue for the last couple of years, but in December the combination of the holiday inventory slowdown and the pandemic buying trend caused it to dip to its lowest level in history. Looking forward, we could see new lows in the next couple of months as buyers remain relatively active, but a surge of new COVID cases may slow the number of sellers entering the market.” Hale added that improvements in the supply of homes for sale were being forecasted in the second half of the year, although she admitted, that “Until then, finding a home will continue to be a top challenge for buyers across all price ranges.”