Housing Inventories Rise in Some Markets
Listings Growth Is
Usual in February;
Pending Sales Fall
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
March 7, 2007
The supply of homes listed for sale in 18 major metropolitan areas at the end of February was up 3.9% from a month earlier, according to data compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a national real-estate brokerage firm based in Emeryville, Calif.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reported that its index of pending home sales in January fell 4.1% to 108.7 from an upwardly revised 113.3 in December. The index in January was down 8.9% from a year earlier. The index is based on agreements to buy houses, rather than completed transactions.
The supply increase reported by ZipRealty is roughly in line with the typical rise in February as sellers begin to put houses on the market ahead of the spring home-shopping season. Inventories remain high in much of the country. In February, they were up 36% from a year earlier in the 15 metro areas for which comparable data were available, ZipRealty reported.
The ZipRealty data cover listings of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses on local multiple-listing services. That excludes most newly built homes.
Economists are watching home inventories closely for signs of how long the current housing slump will last. Prices have been leveling off or falling modestly in much of the country since late 2005, after several years of unusual double-digit annual increases.
The biggest increases in February from a month earlier were in the Los Angeles metro area, up 8.1%; Minneapolis, 6.6%; Las Vegas, 6.2%, and Miami, 5.8%, according to ZipRealty.
Thomas Lawler, a housing economist in Vienna, Va., says that the inventory trends are worrisome in already glutted markets, such as southern Florida, and that recent tightening of credit standards by subprime lenders will hurt sales this spring.
The supply of listed homes edged down 0.9% in the Washington, D.C., area and 0.5% in the Baltimore area.
Frank Borges LLosa, owner of FranklyRealty.com, a real-estate brokerage firm based in Arlington, Va., says the Washington area market has shown signs of improvement lately. "The buyers are out there, but they're still careful about not overpaying," he says.
Listings Growth Is
Usual in February;
Pending Sales Fall
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
March 7, 2007
The supply of homes listed for sale in 18 major metropolitan areas at the end of February was up 3.9% from a month earlier, according to data compiled by ZipRealty Inc., a national real-estate brokerage firm based in Emeryville, Calif.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reported that its index of pending home sales in January fell 4.1% to 108.7 from an upwardly revised 113.3 in December. The index in January was down 8.9% from a year earlier. The index is based on agreements to buy houses, rather than completed transactions.
The supply increase reported by ZipRealty is roughly in line with the typical rise in February as sellers begin to put houses on the market ahead of the spring home-shopping season. Inventories remain high in much of the country. In February, they were up 36% from a year earlier in the 15 metro areas for which comparable data were available, ZipRealty reported.
The ZipRealty data cover listings of single-family homes, condominiums and town houses on local multiple-listing services. That excludes most newly built homes.
Economists are watching home inventories closely for signs of how long the current housing slump will last. Prices have been leveling off or falling modestly in much of the country since late 2005, after several years of unusual double-digit annual increases.
The biggest increases in February from a month earlier were in the Los Angeles metro area, up 8.1%; Minneapolis, 6.6%; Las Vegas, 6.2%, and Miami, 5.8%, according to ZipRealty.
Thomas Lawler, a housing economist in Vienna, Va., says that the inventory trends are worrisome in already glutted markets, such as southern Florida, and that recent tightening of credit standards by subprime lenders will hurt sales this spring.
The supply of listed homes edged down 0.9% in the Washington, D.C., area and 0.5% in the Baltimore area.
Frank Borges LLosa, owner of FranklyRealty.com, a real-estate brokerage firm based in Arlington, Va., says the Washington area market has shown signs of improvement lately. "The buyers are out there, but they're still careful about not overpaying," he says.
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