Zillow released a special report today showing how much housing inventory has dropped across the country. Although inventory levels vary by market, taking the country as a whole the current supply of housing is down 19.4 percent across the U.S. compared to last year’s level. Furthermore, the decline in inventory has not been confined to one price band. Inventory at all price points have been impacted over the past 12 months — breaking out as follows across the U.S.:
- top-tier properties (22.0 percent lower)
- middle-tier homes (18.6 percent lower
- bottom-tier homes (15.3 percent lower)
This Zillow research report can be accessed here: Tighter Inventory in Many Markets Across the U.S.
As part of the analysis, Zillow looked at inventory changes across 99 metro areas. From the report:
…the metro areas with the largest overall changes in inventory:
Fresno (-49.4 percent overall; -59.7 percent among the bottom tier), Salt Lake City (-46.4 percent overall; -50.8 percent among the bottom tier), Sacramento (-42.4 percent overall; -55.4 percent among the bottom tier) and San Francisco (-42.2 percent overall; -53.2 percent among the bottom tier).
I did not see Reno, Nevada listed in Zillow’s tables, but just to see where our metro area would rank against those measured by Zillow. In September 2011, the Reno-Sparks market had 2,044 active listings*. In September 2012, the number of active listings was 836 — a decline of 59 percent year-over-year. As can be seen, Reno-Sparks’ 59 percent decline in housing inventory easily eclipses that of any of the metro areas analyzed in Zillow’s study.
* Data reported covers the cities of Reno, Nevada and Sparks, Nevada [NNRMLS Area #100]. Residential data includes Site/Stick Built properties only. Data excludes Condo/Townhouse, Manufactured/Modular and Shared Ownership properties. Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS – October 2012. Note: This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
