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The Main Story in Housing Remains Inventory

  • January 23, 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

The Main Story in Housing Remains Inventory: Figure 1

The National Association of Realtors released its monthly report on existing home sales today, but it was inventory that made headlines.

Housing inventory at the end of December fell 1.86 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 4.6-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 5.1 months in November. The benchmark for a healthy level of inventory is at least a six-month supply. Accordingly perhaps, existing home sales fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier, the second month in a row of declines after 28 straight months of year-over-year declines.

DC is not immune to the inventory shortage. While active listings in the region increased in December, inventory in the region remains 73 percent lower than at its peak in September 2007.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_main_story_in_housing_remains_inventory/8033

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