by Calculated Risk on 1/18/2024 12:40:00 PM

Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report: Weekly Housing Trends View — Data Week Ending January 13, 2024

• Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 7.9% above year ago levels.

Active listings in the past week grew by 7.9% above the previous year, the 10th straight week of annual growth. Active inventory picked up slightly compared to the previous week, diverging from the typical seasonal pattern which would suggest falling inventory until the spring market picks up in March. Should the uptick in new listings persist, inventory levels could continue to improve as hesitant buyers and sellers make their move ahead of the flurry of activity in the spring.

• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were up this week, by 7.0% from one year ago.

After an extended period of less listing activity from sellers due to the mortgage rate lock-in effect, newly listed homes have risen above last year’s levels for the 12th week in a row. This past week, the number of newly listed homes was 7.0% higher than the same time last year. However, the pace of new listings is still expected to be below typical pre-pandemic levels. In this past week, the new listing count was still 21.3% below similar weeks in 2017 to 2020.

Here is a graph of the year-over-year change in inventory according to realtor.com. 

Inventory was up year-over-year for the 10th consecutive week following 20 consecutive weeks with a YoY decrease in inventory.  

Inventory is still historically very low.

New listings really collapsed a year ago, so the YoY comparison for new listings is easier now - although new listings remain well below "typical pre-pandemic levels", new listings are now up YoY for the 12th consecutive week.