by Calculated Risk on 3/21/2024 02:51:00 PM

What this means: On a weekly basis, Realtor.com reports the year-over-year change in active inventory and new listings. On a monthly basis, they report total inventory. For February, Realtor.com reported inventory was up 14.8% YoY, but still down almost 40% compared to February 2019. 

 Now - on a weekly basis - inventory is up 23.8% YoY.

Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report: Weekly Housing Trends View—Data Week Ending March 16, 2024

• Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 23.8% above year-ago levels. For a 19th straight week, active listings registered above the prior year’s level, which means that today’s home shoppers can consider more options for existing homes for sale. However, the number of homes on the market is still down nearly 40% compared with what was typical in 2017 to 2019, and the gain in inventory, particularly in the more affordable under-$350,000 price category, was primarily focused in the South last month. Nonetheless, in the first few weeks of March, inventory growth has also accelerated in the Midwest and West, while inventory in the Northeast remains similar to the previous year’s.

• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale–were up this week, by 17.8% from one year ago. For the 21st consecutive week, newly listed homes have surpassed year-ago levels. This rate of growth is also increasing, with newly listed homes growing 17.8% compared with last year, while the previous week’s growth rate was 15.8%. This is the highest year-over-year growth rate in new listings seen since May 2021, but the base of inventory for this growth remains small.

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

Inventory was up year-over-year for the 19th consecutive week following 20 consecutive weeks with a YoY decrease in inventory.  

Inventory is still historically very low.

Although new listings remain below typical pre-pandemic levels, new listings are now up YoY for the 21st consecutive week.