Final Look: Local Housing Markets in September

Adding Alabama, Charlotte, Columbus, Miami, New York, Phoenix and the Twin Cities

This is the final look at local markets in September. I’m tracking 30+ local housing markets in the US. Some of the 30 markets are states, and some are metropolitan areas. These tables are updated throughout the month as additional data is released.

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.

Also note the divergence between markets (last year all markets mostly moved together).

Key Points:

1. Inventory is still very low, and inventory in most areas is at a record low for the month of September.

2. There is significant divergence between markets.

3. It is possible inventory will be up year-over-year during the Winter, but still at very low levels.

Active Inventory in September

Here is a summary of active listings for these housing markets in September. For these markets, inventory was down 0.4% in September month-over-month (MoM) from August, and down 24.8% year-over-year (YoY).

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that inventory was down 13.0% from a year ago, although it appears the NAR includes some pending homes in inventory (this list is for active inventory).

Inventory in San Diego and Miami is currently at an all time low, whereas inventory in Austin, Denver and Sacramento is up more than double from the all time low earlier this year.

Austin, Columbus, Sacramento and Washington, D.C. are some of the few areas where inventory is up YoY. Note that the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) reported earlier that inventory in 40% of the markets in California are either unchanged or up year-over-year. This is a change.

Half of these markets saw a MoM increase in inventory; half saw a decrease.

Notes for all tables:

1. New additions to table in BOLD.

2. Northwest (Seattle), North Texas (Dallas), and Santa Clara (San Jose)

3. Totals do not include Atlanta, Denver or Twin Cities (included in state totals).

   

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New Listings in September

And here is a table for new listings in September. For these three areas, new listings were down 4.0% YoY.

Note: Not all areas report new listings.

Closed Sales in September

And a table of September sales. Sales for these markets were down 2.9% YoY, Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA). This does not include California with sales down 10.5% YoY SA.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that sales were down 2.3% from a year ago (a similar YoY decrease in sales).

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