I’ll admit, my train of thought is kind of weird. I was looking at recent housing statistics the other day and ran across the
figures relating to the housing inventory levels in the Birmingham, Al area, which is the market I work out of. I thought Whoa! What’s happening to the inventory levels, especially compared to last year. My brain immediately recalled the old sitcom “What’s Happening”. You remember the one, with Haywood Nelson, Ernest Thomas, and my favorite Fred Berry, playing Rerun? Maybe you don’t, but if you get a chance to catch it in reruns (no pun intended) check it out, you might like it.
Graph courtesy of ACRE
Now back to business. According to the Alabama Center For Real Estate (ACRE), the inventory levels in April of this year were at 8,006 units, down from last years figures of 10,072. That is a reduction of over 2,000 units. It’s also lower than the previous month. This reduction is most likely caused by a decrease in new listings as well as the expiration of some older listings. It will probably adjust up slightly when some of the expired properties are re-listed, however it appears to be on an overall downward trend.
The big question to ask is what type of an effect will this have on market activity, especially prices. The reduction is moving the inventory in a direction where the market is more in a state of balance, as opposed to it being either a buyers or a sellers market. This “state of balance” is a healthy sign, if it continues. The summer months are traditionally more active as families take this time to move into new homes before the next school year. I’ll keep an eye on the numbers to let you know whats happening. Have you seen any positive signs of a housing recovery? What were they? Leave me a message below, I’d like to hear from you.
If you have any real estate appraisal related questions you can call me at 205.243.9304, email me, or connect with me on Facebook., Twitter, or Youtube.
I know. It’s been amazing to watch, and it’s created a tremendous amount of competition among buyers. There are so many opinions. I tend to side with the investor I interviewed in this post, though I also think there must be a greater level of inventory being held by the banks (even if it isn’t a landslide “shadow” inventory).
http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2012/05/17/why-is-inventory-so-low-in-sacramento-right-now/
Great video Ryan. That makes sense, of course ours is not that low but we do have our fair share of REO properties. It will be interesting to watch as things unfold.
I know inventory in my neck of the woods has really been down lately. We’ve had about a one-month housing supply!!
Wow! One month os inventory is low. What do you think is causing that Ryan?