3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in December

Adding Albuquerque, Colorado, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, Sacramento, Santa Clara and South Carolina

This is the third look at local markets in December. I’m tracking about 30 local housing markets in the US. Some of the 30 markets are states, and some are metropolitan areas. I’ll update these tables throughout the month as additional data is released.

My view is that if the housing market is slowing, it will show up in inventory (not yet!).

The following data is important, especially active inventory and new listings. One of the key factors for house prices is supply and tracking local inventory reports will help us understand what is happening with supply.

On a national basis, we will see record low inventory over the Winter. I’ll be watching to see if inventory follows the normal seasonal pattern and bottoms in January or February.

Active Inventory in December

Here is a summary of active listings for these housing markets in December. Inventory was down 17.7% in December month-over-month (MoM) from November, and down 30.0% year-over-year (YoY).

Inventory almost always declines seasonally in December, so the MoM decline is not a surprise. Last month, these markets were down 26.2% YoY, so the YoY decline in December is larger than in November. This isn’t indicating a slowing market.

Notes for all tables:

1. New additions to table in BOLD.

2. Northwest (Seattle), North Texas (Dallas), and Santa Clara (San Jose), Jacksonville, Source: Northeast Florida Association of REALTORS®

3. Totals do not include Denver (included in state total).

   

Please share with your friends and colleagues!

New Listings in December

And here is a table for new listings in December. For these areas, new listings were down 10.1% YoY.

Last month, new listings in these markets were up 1.9% YoY.

Closed Sales in December

And a table of December sales. Sales were down 5.8% YoY, Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).

Note that there was one fewer selling day in December ‘21 compared to December ‘20, so the Seasonally Adjusted (SA) number will show less of a YoY decline than the NSA numbers.

Much more to come!