Expensive Home Listings Surge as Affordable Home Supply Declines

The supply of newly listed affordable homes is down as of the week ending June 20, but new listings for pricier homes are higher than last year’s levels in some markets. Zillow reports that affordable home listings are down 29% from a year ago, but expensive home listings declined by only 9%. These numbers are reversed from trends seen in April and May where big-ticket home listings declined earlier and by much more compared to 2019. New listings for expensive homes in New York, Miami, and San Francisco markets were above last year’s levels as of June 20.

In a reversal of the prevailing trend from earlier in the spring, newly listed homes in the most-affordable price ranges are now down far more compared to a year ago than listings in more-expensive tiers.

As of the week ending June 20, new listings of more-affordable homes were down 29% from a year ago, compared to just a 9% difference between this year and last for the most-expensive listings, according to a Zillow analysis of listings data by price quintile.

For most of April and May, listings of expensive homes slowed earlier and by much more compared to a year ago than more affordable homes. Earlier in the spring, the roughly 30% shortfall from a year ago in cheaper listings seemed relatively shallow compared to the more than 50% maximum annual decline recorded by the most-expensive listings.

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