by Calculated Risk on 3/11/2015 10:43:00 AM

Each month I track sales and inventory data for several previous bubble areas (like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Sacramento). These areas are interesting because they had huge prices bubbles, and large price declines - followed by significant investor buying (that is now declining).  I also track these areas because the data is available on line.

Housing economist Tom Lawler is tracking a number of other areas, and has been kind enough to share that data with us (focused on distressed sales and cash buying).

If you are looking for data on your own area, you could try the local MLS, or look at the Zillow Research data. In addition to prices, Zillow tracks inventory and sales by metro area and zip code.  Scroll down to "Other Metrics" and look at "Home Sales" and "For-sale Inventory" for the last five years.

Caution: Zillow has been expanding their coverage, so use caution when creating a data series based on aggregate data.