News and Events
July 23, 2007
Housing Inventories Grow in Major US Markets
Housing
Inventories Grow
In
Major U.S. Markets
By James R. Hagerty
From The Wall Street Journal Online
The number of homes on the market in 18 major metropolitan
areas continues to grow.
Total listings of homes in these metro areas at the end of
June was up 2.5% from May, according to figures compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a
national real-estate brokerage firm based in Emeryville, Calif. The data cover
all listings of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses on local
multiple-listing services in those areas.
In another sign of weakness for the housing market, the
National Association of Realtors reported this week that its index of pending
home sales in May declined 3.5% from a month earlier to stand at 97.7. The
index, which is down 13% from a year earlier, equates the 2001 level of
activity to 100. The group considers a sale pending when a contract has been
signed but the transaction hasn't been completed.
The rise in the number of homes listed in June was broadly
in line with historical trends. In recent years, inventories on a national
basis have tended to rise in June. On average over the past two decades,
though, they have fallen slightly during that month.
The continued growth in supply suggests further downward
pressure on house and condo prices in parts of the country. After soaring in
the first half of this decade, prices in many markets have been flat to lower
over the past two years amid a supply glut and more-cautious mortgage lending.
Thomas Lawler, a housing economist based in
The biggest increases in inventory last month were in metro
areas where prices generally have continued to rise. Inventory was up 9.2% in
the
Inventories are up sharply from a year earlier. For the 15
cities for which year-earlier comparisons were available, inventory was up 23%.
But inventory in the
