Is Housing Inventory Picking Up?

An important element that is helping shape the real estate market these days is the number of homes available for sale. That can have an impact on what buyers have to choose from, but can also have an effect on sellers who are considering listing their home for sale. When inventory levels are low, your home will stand out especially when appropriately priced. 

For quite a while now we have been faced with slim levels of inventory, but is that going to change soon? There have been some early signs of more listings coming soon. According to some recent data from Realtor.com, new listings have been trending upwards. Here is a closer look.

More Inventory

The most typical busy season for most markets is spring. This is the most anticipated time of year for an uptick in the volume of homes being listed for sale. Sellers are usually ramping up for these months when buyers are most active. By contrast as soon as the school year kicks off and then the holidays approach, then the market tends to cool which is also expected. However, based on the data from Realtor.com there is an increase in the number of sellers putting their homes on the market for sale later this year than usual. 

As Realtor.com explains: “While inventory continues to be in short supply, August witnessed an unusual uptick in newly listed homes compared to July, hopefully signaling a return in seller activity heading toward the fall season . . .”

Although this is only one month of data, it is unusual enough to be noteworthy. It is still too early to know if this trend will continue, but it is definitely something to stay on top of.

What This Means

If you have been hesitant to put your home on the market now may be a good time to do so. If more homes come on soon like this trend indicates, then you will have more competition. Inventory levels are still very low and while they won’t be drastically changed over night, you still may have a good opportunity to list sooner than later.