Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-January 2025

This 2-part overview for mid-January provides a snapshot of the current housing market.

I always focus first on inventory, since inventory usually tells the tale! I’m watching months-of-supply closely.

New Listings for Existing Homes Up Slightly Year-over-year in December

Here is a graph of new listing from Realtor.com’s December 2024 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report showing new listings were up 0.9% year-over-year in December. New listings are still well below pre-pandemic levels. From Realtor.com:

Sellers slightly increased their activity this December as newly listed homes were just 0.9% above last year’s levels, a decrease from November’s rise of 2%. We noted last month that the sharp decrease in mortgage rates in mid-August could lead to an increase in listings in the coming months as lower rates begin to entice the marginal homeowner to sell, and that’s exactly what happened in September and October. But with higher rates taking a bite out of homebuying power, fewer new sellers are coming to the market this winter compared with this past fall.

Note the seasonality for new listings. December and January are seasonally the weakest months of the year for new listings, followed by February and November. New listings were up year-over-year in 2024, but still well below normal levels.

Impact on Active Inventory

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