Housing Inventory heading into Fall: a surprise

I started to write this article intending to talk about the increase in supply we have seen in recent weeks and how the housing market was getting back into equilibrium between buyers and sellers, a situation achieved when supply reached 6 months. But a funny thing happened as I worked through the numbers. Take a look at this table:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

Looking at both the 17 towns on the North Shore in that category and the 33 in Essex County, while the number of Single Family Homes (SFHs) for sale has indeed increased by about 10% from a year ago (see below), the supply is still 4.2 – 4.4 months, with very little change over the summer.

There are, of course, variations from town to town so I will now show individual numbers, starting with SFHs.

First, Single Family Homes (SFHs):

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

and now Condos:

Source: MLS, Oliver Reports

It is not surprising that as prices have increased so has the demand for condos and that market generally remains very tight.

A quick summary is that conditions in individual towns and at different price points can vary significantly. There is clearly greater choice in the SFH market but this may well also be attracting buyers who had not been able to find a property earlier.

If you  – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected].

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty

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