November 2019 Housing Market Trends Report

• National inventory declined by 12.0 percent year-over-year, and inventory in large markets decreased by 11.4 percent.
• The December U.S. median listing price was $299,950, up 3.0 percent year-over-year
• Nationally, homes sold in 79 days in December, two days more quickly than last year

Realtor.com®’s December data release reveals a tight housing market with few options for homeowner hopefuls, as the inventory of homes for sale has declined to its lowest point since January 2018. Properties are also selling more quickly than last year but listing price gains have so far failed to materialize alongside the inventory shortage. 

The total number of homes available for sale continues to decline at an accelerating pace both nationally and locally in the nation’s largest metros. Nationally, inventory decreased 12.0 percent in year-over-year in December, a faster rate of decline compared to the 9.5 percent year-over-year drop in November and the largest year-over-year decline in almost 3 years. This amounted to a loss of 155,000 listings compared to December of last year, and inventory is now at its lowest point in almost two years. Additionally, the volume of newly listed properties has decreased by 11.2 percent since last year, further adding to a housing crunch that looks more severe than the last shortage in 2017 and shows no signs of abatement.

In November, we reported that the inventory of upper-tier properties priced at over $1 million began to decline on a year-over-year basis for the first time in almost 2 years, while the inventory of lower- and mid-tier properties continued to decline at an accelerating pace. In December, the decline in inventory of lower-tier properties priced at under $200,000 accelerated further, down 18.1 percent in December compared to 16.5 percent in November, and the decline in inventory of mid-tier properties priced between $200,000 and $750,000 also accelerated, to a 10.2 percent year-over-year drop in December compared to a 7.4 percent decline in November. Even upper-tier properties declined more quickly than November, by 4.4 percent year-over-year compared to November’s decline of 1.7 percent, as very low inventory in the lower tiers pushed buyers to consider more expensive homes.  

Housing inventory in the 50 largest U.S. metros also declined by 12.0 percent year-over-year in December. The metros which saw the biggest declines in inventory were San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (-33.1 percent); Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (-31.8%); and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (-30.4 percent). Only three of the 50 metros saw inventory increase over the year: San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX (+8.8 percent); Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (+7.4 percent); and Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV (+4.8 percent). 

As inventory has reached its lowest point in almost two years, the typical property is selling more quickly than last year. Nationally, homes sold in 79 days in December, two days more quickly than December of last year. However, in the 50 largest U.S. metros, the typical home only sold just as quickly as last year. Raleigh, NC; Oklahoma City, OK; and Rochester, NY; saw the largest decreases in days on market with properties spending 13, 11, and 8 fewer days on the market than last year, respectively. Meanwhile, properties in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA; Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY; and Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH; sold 22, 10, and 9 days more slowly, respectively. 

The resumption of inventory shortages has not yet materialized into significant listing price gains. The median U.S. listing price grew by only 3.0 percent, to $299,950 in December, which is a deceleration compared to last month, when the median listing price grew by 3.6 percent over the year. 

Of the largest 50 metros, 42 saw year-over-year gains in median listing prices. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA (+21.0 percent); Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (+13.1 percent); and Birmingham-Hoover, AL (+11.1 percent); posted the highest year-over-year median list price growth in December. All three markets also saw double-digit declines in their housing inventories. The steepest price declines were seen in Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN (-5.0 percent); Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI (-4.1 percent); and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland, TX (-2.9 percent).

In December, 13.2 percent of active listings saw their listing prices reduced, virtually unchanged from last year with a small decline of 0.5 percent. Among the nation’s largest markets, 15 saw an increase in their share of price reductions compared to last year. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA saw the greatest increase in price reductions in November, up 14.7 percent. It was followed by Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN (+3.1 percent) and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland, TX (+2.6 percent). 

Metros Seeing the Largest Declines in Inventory