Despite the fact that the number of for-sale listings nationwide was down 12.2% in early June, compared to early June 2012, inventory has improved since the beginning of the year, according to Zillow.
The real estate data and services provider says the number of for-sale homes listed via its website increased 5.3 percentage points between January and June, controlling for seasonality.
Metropolitan areas with the biggest increases in inventory between January and June include Phoenix (+31.9 percentage points); San Diego (+14.9); and Minneapolis (+13.5). Metropolitan areas where inventory decreased the most since the beginning of the year include Las Vegas (-21.8); Chicago (-12.3); and Washington, D.C. (-9.8).
Zillow notes that during the past year, inventory was tightest for expensive homes. The availability of top-tier and middle-tier properties fell 15.7% year-over-year.
‘As the recovery has progressed, inventory constraints have played a major role in rapidly pushing up home values in many areas, as increasing demand for homes ran headlong into limited supply,’ said Dr. Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, in a statement. ‘It has always been just a matter of time before more supply came on the market to meet this demand, as homebuilders built more new homes and sellers entered the market to capitalize on recent robust appreciation in their own homes.’
However, Humphries said it would take a while longer before inventory returns to June 2012 levels.