Home Supply Sees First Decline in a Year

Home supply saw a 3.4% decrease year-over-year in July, the first decline in supply in the last year, Redfin reports.

The supply of homes for sale fell 3.4 percent year over year, the first decline in a year. Just 28 of the 85 metros tracked by Redfin saw an increase in the number of homes for sale compared to a year earlier.

U.S. home-sale prices grew at a steady 3.3 percent rate year over year to a median of $318,100 across the metros Redfin tracks. Home prices have been growing in the healthy 3 percent range since May.

“July home prices and sales were weaker than I had expected, especially given that falling mortgage rates have been luring homebuyers back to the market since early spring,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Even though we’ve seen increased interest from homebuyers—especially compared to a year ago when mortgage rates were climbing—uncertainties in the overall economy and talk of a looming recession have people feeling jittery about making a huge purchase and investment. But I think the odds are that we won’t see a recession within the next year. If rates stay low and the economy continues to grow, we’ll see more homebuyers come back in a serious way in 2020, and the market will be much more competitive.”

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