by Calculated Risk on 11/14/2012 11:11:00 AM

From Realtor.com: October 2012 Real Estate Data

The total US for-sale inventory of single family homes, condos, townhomes and co-ops remained at historic lows, with 1.76 million units for sale in October 2012, down -17.00% compared to a year ago.

The median age of inventory was down -11.81% compared to one year ago.

For sale inventories declined on a year-over-year basis in 141 of the 146 markets tracked by Realtor.com. Forty four cities saw year-over-year declines greater than 20%.

On a month-over-month basis, inventory declined in 127 of 146 markets.

Going forward, I expect to see smaller year-over-year declines simply because inventory is already very low.

The NAR is scheduled to report October existing home sales and inventory next week on Monday, November 19th. The key number in the NAR report will be inventory, and inventory will be down sharply again year-over-year in October.