Housing inventory is spiking

Housing inventory is up almost 40% over last year nationwide. That’s according to the latest update from Altos Research via HousingWire. Here’s what else their research shows:
  • Inventory grew 2.6%, from 651,453 units to 668,383 units, from July 12th to July 19th. This is up from 1.88% growth during the same week last year (471,603 units to 480,448 units)
  • The 668,383 units marks the peak for inventory this year. For perspective, we are now two years removed from the all-time inventory bottom, which hit 240,497 in March 2022.
  • Here are the number of listings for last week over the last several years:
    • 2024: 68,681
    • 2023: 62,859
    • 2022: 80,089
    • For context, active listings for this week in 2015 were 1,201,808
  • There are 1% more pending home sales under contract compared to last year
    • 2024: 382,435
    • 2023: 378,227
    • 2022: 418,983

Our take
This is excellent news for buyers. Low inventory has plagued the housing market since the pandemic. While the current level is still far from average, it’s a more tolerable situation. Home prices are still rising in 2024, but the pace is significantly slower than in 2020 and 2021. We expect the rate of price growth to cool down even further in the second half of the year.