Weekly Inventory Is Down Just 6% Year-Over-Year at the Start of May

The most recent weekly report from Realtor.com reveals just a 6% year-over-year drop in active inventory, signaling a slow but steady increase in the number of homes for sale after a seasonal low at the start of 2022, according to the CalculatedRisk Newsletter. Though inventory will remain at a historically low level, year-over-year supply is rising, especially as new home sales slow as a result of elevated mortgage rates. Just one week ago, inventory was down 12.6% year-over-year, but it's now inching closer to a single-digit decline in the first week of May.

Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing homes. Here is their most recent weekly report released yesterday: Weekly Housing Trends View — Data Week Ending April 23, 2022.

The gap between this year’s homes for sale and last year’s is one-fifth the size that it was at the beginning of the year. The catch up is likely to continue, as we noted last week, as new listings grow and home sales slow, and we expect active inventory to surpass year ago levels in the next few months. This growth will mean more options for shoppers than they’ve had in a while, even though inventory continues to lag pre-pandemic normal.

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