by Calculated Risk on 9/29/2024 01:23:00 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 August, Realtor.com reported inventory was up 5.8% YoY, but still down 26.4% compared to the 2017 to 2019 same month levels. 

 Now - on a weekly basis - inventory is up 33.2% YoY.

Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report: Weekly Housing Trends View—Data for Week Ending Sept. 21, 2024

• Active inventory increased, with for-sale homes 33.2% above year-ago levels.

For the 46th consecutive week dating back to November 2023, the number of listings for sale has grown year-over-year, and this week continues a string of growth rates in the mid-30% range that started in April. There were more homes for sale this week than in any week since January 2020, pre-pandemic. Much of the inventory build up is due to more seller activity than buyer activity, but falling mortgage rates could mean more buyers enter the market in the coming weeks.

• New listings–a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale- jumped 8.0% this week compared to one year ago.

As the recent easing of mortgage rates kept encouraging many sellers to return to the market, the year-over-year growth in new listings continued this week. With mortgage rates at their lowest level in nearly two years, eager sellers are taking the chance to get their home listed, hoping to catch some of the fall buyer activity. This trend is expected to continue as rates ease further and more sellers are ‘unlocked’.

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

Inventory was up year-over-year for the 46th consecutive week.  

However, inventory is still historically low.

New listings remain below typical pre-pandemic levels.