New listings grew on a yearly basis in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to the latest realtor.com® Monthly Housing Report.
While inventory is still low compared to last year—homes for sale declined 33.5% YoY in July—the rate of decline is improving.
By the numbers:
– More new sellers entered the market in July (+6.5% year-over-year)—higher than June’s 5.5% YoY increase.
– Newly listed homes typically decline from June to July, but this year they held firm at 0.6% over June.
– For single-family home inventory, the share of homes having between 750 and 1,750 square feet increased from 30.2% in July 2020 to 36.3% in July 2021.
– Inventory of homes having between 3,000 and 6,000 square feet decreased from 24.2% to 20.1%.
– New listings increased 11.1% YoY in the 50 largest metros, with more than half experiencing double-digit gains.
– These metros took the lead in inventory gains: Columbus, Ohio (+42.9%), Baltimore (+36.9%), Cleveland, Ohio (+35.8%), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (+34.3%) and Richmond, Virginia (+30.1%).
– The biggest regional inventory increases were in the Midwest, up 19.8%, and West, up 11.3%.
The takeaway:
“July housing trends show a market still working its way back toward some version of normal. The feverish pace of home sales is beginning to follow historical seasonal patterns, while new listings grew at an unusually high rate for the summer months, further helping the inventory crunch,” said realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “This is shifting the housing market balance in a more buyer-friendly direction, but buyers may not see as much price moderation as suggested by the national trend because it’s partly attributed to a shift toward smaller homes for sale. Still, if these changing inventory dynamics continue, we could see a wave of real estate activity heading into the latter part of the year.”
